Maybe Someday
by wildlion21
Summary: Mainly Quintis, but also Waige. Future fic, so much fluff, cute, serious&sad. Toby brings up the idea of having kids, which leads them to their child & following them through early parenthood. (Adoption, wedding, babies/pregnancy, abuse, gambling, Happy & Toby's pasts, panic attacks/nightmares -You've been warned. Specific warnings at the beginning of the chapters if needed.)
1. Chapter 1

**I've never posted anything before. I've never written anything before. I started writing one night when I was bored and I ended up with a HUGE story. I've decided to start by posting the first chapter. If all goes well I'll continue updating/posting the rest of it chapter by chapter (I've got close to 14, I think). I'm sorry if it's not the best writing, or if the characters seem a little out of character. Please be gentle with your comments if you have any...this has been sitting in my folders for months while I've been debating if I wanted to post it or not and tonight I finally got the courage to.**

 **I do not own the characters, or Scorpion.**

Toby and Happy had been together for about 2 years now. They had moved into a new place together a few months back. They were in a stable mature relationship. Toby had been trying to propose jokingly for a few months, but she always just laughed it off, because he always did it at the most random and inconvenient times. She knew he wasn't serious.

Just last week, after they had been out on a case and they had just gotten back to the garage, they were sitting on the couch, and he looked over at her and said "We've had a long day. Let's do something fun. Let's get married?"

Toby had ulterior motives though. He knew she would never say yes if he asked like that, he knew that she would laugh it all off, and to be honest, he never carried the rings with him. He was making jokes about it to get her used to the idea. He was planting a seed for when he actually did want to propose for real, she would have already thought about it and would say yes, hopefully.

He had also been doing the same thing in regards to kids. Toby wanted kids, but he wasn't exactly sure about her stance on it. He would make random comments when Ralph was around about how "motherly" she could be. He would also say how they "would never let their kids do that" jokingly when Ralph would do something uncalled for.

He decided to just take the leap and ask her about kids one evening. He knew it was backwards, typically people get married then have kids. He wasn't looking to start trying at that moment, he was curious about what their future could entail. He just wanted to know where she stood on the subject.

They were sitting on their couch after a pretty calm day at work. They were watching some kind of documentary about space and pointing out all the inaccuracies, it was something they liked to do for fun.

He was sitting straight up, she was curled up to him with her arm around his waist with her head on his chest and he had one of his arms around her too.

"Happy, I'm just going to jump into this," He said calmly and took a pause before continuing "Do you want kids some day? Where do you stand on that?" He asked.

She sat up so she could look at him "I don't want any." She said with almost a sympathetic tone fidgeting with the string from her hoodie.

"Oh" was all he could say. He had always wanted kids, he wanted kids with her. He wanted to be a dad.

She sat up more comfortably and put her hand on his shoulder and continued. "I mean, I don't want to have biological children. I would like to adopt or something someday though…"

He thought about that for a minute. He was happy that she wasn't opposed to the idea of kids in general, just that she wasn't ready to have her own children. He thought about it while they kept talking.

She really did want to have kids someday. She didn't want her own…she couldn't have her own. She always kind of liked the idea of being a mother, even though she wouldn't admit that to anyone else but herself and now Toby. The idea of being a mother still scared her, but since she'd been with Toby, she was getting less scared of it, she could see a future and kids with him more and more each day. She was scared of that too. She had never been with someone who made her want a family, who made her feel so safe, loved and wanted.

"You're not opposed to the idea of kids in general, or being a mother. Why don't you want to have biological children?" He asked. He was curious, he felt like he already knew the answer, but he wanted confirmation and to see if there was more to it.

"My mom died during childbirth. It's always freaked me out." She started to explain something that Toby already knew. But then continued "I was in the system, it sucks. I feel like we could be one of those few good homes for kids if we fostered or adopted." He already assumed that would be one of her factors as well.

"Happy, you know there have been medical advances in the last 29 years, the chances of death are so slim for the mother and even for a baby…" He said, trying to reassure her.

"I know, but the idea of pregnancy freaks me out. So many unpredictable factors, anything can go wrong. My mom had a really complicated pregnancy, they didn't even think I'd make it." She said. It was clear she wasn't budging on that.

"I understand, but you know, bringing life into the world, a tiny person that would be half you and half me would be great." He said putting his arm around her shoulders again and smiling.

He understood it was difficult. He had always wanted his own kids so he was kind of hoping to sway her a little bit. But if she didn't want to have children of her own, then adoption or fostering was something he was definitely willing to do.

"I just, I don't want to die and miss my child's entire life and I wouldn't want to put you in that situation…" she said as she continued to fidget with the string on her hoodie. He could tell that she was hiding something. She was avoiding his eyes and fidgeting. He didn't want to press the subject too much more, it was clearly something she was worried about.

"It's okay. We can talk about adoption or fostering as options too." He said trying to be supportive. "They can take a long time, so we should start those processes soon and start looking into it if we want kids before we're old enough to be grandparents." He laughed lightly at his own joke.

She let out a small smile and nodded in agreement.

He could tell she was still hiding something "Hey, what's wrong, what aren't you telling me?" He said brushing a few curls from her face.

"I can't have kids." She just said abruptly. "I've got something similar to what my mom had." She said still avoiding his eyes, he leaned over and just hugged her.

It had never occurred to him that she might want her own kids, but couldn't. She had valid points before for not wanting to give birth and have biological children, and he was alright with that. He didn't realize that she wanted kids, but couldn't have them the traditional way. It broke his heart a little bit when it all clicked and made sense.

After a few minutes, she pulled back and continued to explain. "It's not that I can't conceive at all, but the chances are relatively low and if I were to get pregnant there is a very high likelihood that I would have a miscarriage. There's also a high chance I would have a complicated pregnancy if I did carry a child. My mom died because of complications…I don't want to go through that. I don't want to put you through that..." She was looking at him now.

Toby looked at her like he didn't know what to tell her. She wasn't an emotional person generally, but her walls came down around Toby. She let him see the more vulnerable parts of her now that they were so stable and she knew she could trust him.

She continued, "I've always said I didn't want kids, it's easier than explaining that I can't. For the first time in my life, I'm happy. I love my job, and you, and my dad's back in my life. I don't want to lose any of that." She said and took a brief pause.

"I've never been with anyone who made me want to have a family before. I want that with you so bad, and it breaks my heart that we can't have a tiny human that's half you and half me. If it wasn't so risky, I would have babies with you Toby." She smiled and kissed him.

He kissed her back pulling her onto him. He loved the idea that she wanted a family with him. That she was now trusting enough, secure enough and loved him enough to want all of that with him. She had opened up so much, and he knew just how difficult it was for her. He loved that he was probably the only person who ever saw the emotional and vulnerable side of Happy Quinn.

"Happy, I love that you want this. It's scary, and complicated but we don't have to have biological kids. If you want a baby, we can make that happen other ways."

She looked up again, "I know I should have told you sooner. I didn't know how." She said.

She was now sitting on his lap facing him, his hands were on her hips, she had her hands behind his neck and she was lightly playing with the ends of his hair.

"That's alright I understand. We can adopt the underdog kid who needs it. We can save a kid or two from a crappy life. We're going to give some kid the best life." He said with a smile.

"You're alright with adopting, and not having your own? That doesn't bother you?" She said with a more serious tone, looking at him directly.

"I will love whatever kid we have, however we get one as long as you're going to be his or her mom and I get to be his or her dad." He said pulling her closer to him. "I've always wanted to be a dad. I want a family with you. If that means adopting then great."

She smiled and kissed him hard. She was so glad that he was okay with all of it. She knew he wanted to be a dad, he hadn't really said it before, but she could tell. She could also tell he'd be great at it someday. She was a little disappointed they wouldn't have their own kids together, but it was a fact she had been well aware of for almost all her life. She wished she could have her own kids for the first time in her life. Toby made her want to have it all with him. He made her feel happy and safe.

When they pulled apart she had her hands on his chest and she put her head down slightly, "I'm sorry we can't have our own kids together…"

He lifted her chin. "Hey, no, don't be sorry. We can adopt. It's not a big deal. We can save a kid from a crappy life." He said smiling at her.

"We would have had the cutest kids… probably a genius too." She said slowly.

"Yeah, we probably would have…" he said calmly.

He could tell that it was something she wanted, but had convinced herself she didn't want a long time ago.

She was done talking about it. She didn't want to keep dwelling on it. It made her sad that she couldn't have her own kids, that it was because of her that Toby wouldn't get to have biological children. But neither one of them wanted Happy to risk her life.

She wanted to distract herself, and not talk about it anymore.

She kissed him hard again, running her fingers through his hair and pulling herself closer to him.

He pulled apart and continued "Happy I'm so in love with you. I love that you want to have kids with me one day."

She kissed him again, trying to shut him up.

He pulled back he continued "We're going to be parents someday. We can start looking in to it tomorrow. I think we could adopt, we could have a few kids. Do you want a baby or does the age matter to you? Do you want more than one?" He was so excited about it already.

He smiled at her quickly before she pulled him back in for another kiss.

"Toby, shut up. I love you, and I love that you're excited about it, but right now I'm trying to get in your pants." He sat there with an almost stunned look on his face, she laughed "You dork" and went in for another kiss.


	2. A few days later

A few days later, Toby had been in contact with adoption agencies and child services trying to get as much information as possible so they could make a decision on whether it was something they wanted to do. He was also trying to figure out if adoption or fostering would be best for them. He was much better at talking over the phone, and had much more patience than Happy did for receptionists, wait times, and getting the correct information.

That afternoon Happy was working at her station, she was banging on a piece of metal.

"Hey" he said walking up to her.

She stopped hitting the metal.

"What's up?" She said putting her hammer down

"Marry me." He said in a serious tone.

She laughed it off and threw a rag at him after she cleaned her hands off.

"I'm serious this time Happy." He said again with a serious tone.

She was kind of stunned and didn't say anything. She just stared at him waiting for him to continue.

"I love you, and I really do want to spend the rest of my life with you. I would have done it in a more romantic way, but you're not into that kind of stuff. I was going to wait a while longer but according to all the adoption agencies, we need to be legally married before we can start the adoption process. I have rings though." He said as he pulled out a set of rings from his pocket.

She was still standing there stunned.

He had an engagement ring, and the set of wedding rings. The engagement ring was simple. It was a simple silver band and had small sunken in black diamond. He thought it was more practical given their jobs, he didn't want the rings to get in the way. Besides, black was more her colour. The wedding rings were both plain silver bands with engravings.

"Do you want me to get down on one knee? Is that too traditional and cheesy for you? I'll do it, I want to, but I'm a mildly afraid you'll hit me." He said slowly reaching for her hand and holding it while he was getting down on one knee, with the ring in his other hand.

She pulled her hand away and then tugged on his jacket and raised him back up to standing position.

"Get off the ground dumbass." Was all she said in a stern voice.

"Are you going to hit me? Was getting down on one knee too much? Do you not like the ring? Happy, if you don't want to get married we can't adopt. It's a formality." He said. He was really confused as to what was going on, she hadn't said no, but she hadn't said yes.

She pulled him into a kiss. And then spoke up. "The ring is perfect. I'm not going to hit you, but getting on one knee is too cheesy for me." She smiled at him "I do want to marry you Toby and not just because of some bureaucratic junk to adopt, but because I really do want to marry you."

He slowly slid the engagement ring on her finger. They both smiled and shared another kiss.

"How long have you had these for?" She asked him studying the ring on her finger and the two wedding bands he had in his hand.

"I've had them for about 2 months. I wanted to propose, I just didn't know if you were ready for that next step, and I didn't know how I'd do it. You were willing to commit to a baby with me, which I took as you were also ready to commit to marriage. Having to be legally married to adopt gave me the perfect excuse to make it casual and not go full "Toby" and mess it up." He said smiling.

"I'm glad you didn't go full "Toby". When do you want to get married? We need the papers to start the adoption process, so the sooner the better." She said, she was still holding on to his jacket, and he had his arms around her waist.

She starred at him for a few moments and then said "Let's do it right now. I know it's crazy, but let's run down to the office right now and sign the papers. I don't need a ceremony or a white dress…we both know a white dress isn't for me." They laughed and she continued "Toby, I want to marry you, and we need this done as soon as we can so that we can start the adoption process, so marry me right now." She smiled as she moved her hands to his chest.

"You're insane Happy Quinn. Let's do it." He pulled her into a hug and they kissed passionately and then headed out of the garage holding hands.

As they were walking out smiling like idiots, Paige stopped them.

"Where are you guys going in such a smiley mood? Wait. Do I want to know?" She asked cautiously.

Happy rolled her eyes, and Toby spoke up "We're going to get married. We'll see you guys in a bit." He said as they kept walking and laughing at Paige's reaction.

Paige stood there stunned. Before speaking up. "What? You're crazy! You're not even going to have a wedding ceremony or party?" She asked stopping them again by standing in front of them.

"Paige, we need to get married so we can start the adoption process. It's a formality. We don't need a wedding party or a ceremony." Said Happy smiling.

"Okay hold up. Adoption? Wedding? What the hell! When did all this happen?" She was so confused by everything that was being thrown at her. Toby and Happy just laughed at her confusion in the nicest way.

"We decided we wanted to adopt a few nights ago, the process takes about a year, give or take. We want to get it started, but we need to be legally married to start. I proposed about 15 minutes ago, and we're on our way to the office going to sign the papers." Said Toby explaining everything to the poor confused liaison who was still stunned.

"You geniuses really like short engagements don't you? We don't get a wedding for you guys either? Do you geniuses just get married out of necessity? I want to throw a wedding, or at least a party for you guys!" said Paige crossing her arms. "Can we have a BBQ on the roof tonight? We don't have time to plan any other parties, but we should still celebrate, it's exciting! An adoption and a wedding, that's cause for celebration!" She said smiling now.

They remembered how the last time one of them got married it was Sylvester and Megan almost 3 years ago. Which was done as a last resort to protect her interests. Megan was sick, so they never got a wedding or parties. Toby and Happy both realized that they were also depriving their friends of a celebration. No one was able to celebrate the last marriage within the team due to the circumstances.

Happy and Toby shared a look, and decided they would let Paige throw them a party that night.

"Great, well, I'm going to go make Miss Quinn my wife, and I expect the best burgers ever tonight, Miss Dineen." Said Toby with a smile as they walked out of the garage.

 ***A LITTLE WHILE LATER***

They signed the papers down at the office, and Toby sent their friends a text that said "We got hitched!" with a photo of them smiling with their hands held up showing off their wedding bands.

Walter received the text and immediately went to find Paige.

"What is going on?" He said as he walked up on to the roof where she was setting things up, he was holding his phone and the photo out to show her.

"They got married. They needed to so they could start the adoption process. We're having a BBQ tonight to celebrate." She explained to him with a smile.

"And they just decided all of this today?" he asked crossing his arms. He wasn't mad, he was just confused as to when all of this occurred.

"This week, yes." She responded putting some decorations down on the table.

"Interesting. And no one was informed of this previously?" He asked.

"It's personal. They don't need to tell us everything about their lives. Just like they don't need to know everything about us, right?" She said hugging him.

"You're right." He said holding her back and kissing the top of her head.

"I mean, I'm sure they've probably figured it out by now that we're together. Maybe we should tell them soon though, not today, it's their day." Said Paige.

"Yes, they should know." Agreed Walter kissing her. "I assume this is all for a celebration tonight? You've planned a beautiful party by the way." He smiled.

"Thank you, Walter" she said as she pulled away and went back to placing decorations.

A while later, Toby and Happy walked up to the roof together holding hands, and everyone they cared about was there to greet and congratulate them. They all had a great night together at the BBQ celebrating.


	3. 8 months later

It had been 8 months since they had gotten married. They had filled out all the paperwork for the adoption agency and completed all the required step about 7 months ago. They were now periodically doing interviews with potential birth mothers and adoption agents. They hadn't been chosen yet, and were patiently waiting for a call.

Happy had fallen asleep on the couch watching a movie and Toby came home later after he went grocery shopping. He walked in and saw her sleeping and tried to be quiet not to wake her. His phone started ringing so he went out into the hall to answer it not to disturb her.

"Yes this is Dr. Tobias Curtis. Really? Wow that's great! I'll tell my wife! We'll be there tomorrow morning. Thank you so much!" He was saying to the woman on the phone.

He had a few tears in his eyes, and a pleasantly shocked expression on his face. He walked back into the living room to see Happy waking up. She looked up at him and sat up on the couch. He walked up and stood in front of her.

"What's with your face?" She said looking up at him and standing up to walk towards the kitchen.

"We're getting a baby Happy." He said with the biggest grin on his face.

They both started smiling, he pulled her into a big hug.

He noticed the different smile she got when he told her they were getting a baby. It was different, it was a soft smile but like there was so much emotion and happiness behind it.

"The woman from the adoption agency just called. She said there's a woman who picked us. She wants us to have her baby. Sarah, she's about 6 months pregnant right now, so we have about 3 months to wait before we get the baby, but she loved us in our file and she loved meeting us last week. She chose us, Happy. We're getting a baby!" He said still hugging her.

Happy was so excited to hear that. They both laughed and let out tears of joy. They were so excited to finally be getting their child.

They spent the rest of the night smiling and laughing together. They were both so excited.

"We're going to sign some papers down at the office tomorrow and meet with Sarah again. Nothing is finalized until after the baby is born though." Said Toby

"We're going to be parents in a few months Toby!" she smiled holding on to his shirt. "We can start on the room! She said it was a girl right?" asked Happy.

She couldn't wait to have a baby and to be a mother. She wouldn't ever tell anyone else, but she was so excited, probably more excited than Toby. She never thought she'd get the chance to do any of it.

Toby was so excited. He was also surprised at how excited Happy was. Obviously he knew she wanted a baby, otherwise they wouldn't be going through the long process of adoption, but he didn't realize just how much she wanted it.

"Yep, we're going to have a daughter." Said Toby with a smile.


	4. 3 Months later

They had been in contact with the birth mother for the last 3 months. Everything was going great.

At 4am Toby's phone rang. Happy answered it thinking it was hers.

"Hello? No it's his wife. Oh. Right now? We'll be there as soon as we can. Thank you so much!" She was saying to the woman on the other end of the phone.

Toby woke up and looked at her in confusion.

"Sarah's in labour. We're getting our baby today Toby!" She hopped on top of him in excitement giving him a quick kiss, and then rolling off the bed to find her pants.

He had never seen her so excited before. He couldn't believe how wide awake and excited she was. He took a moment to watch her and how beautiful she looked. There was a light in her eyes he had never really seen before. He had watched her eyes light up plenty of times for various reasons, but not like this. She was rushing around their place trying to find her phone and clothes that made her look like "mother" material…whatever that meant, because she always looked amazing to him. She was trying to pick out which blanket and outfit for the baby to bring to the hospital.

"Toby Hurry up! We'll stop and pick up some coffee on our way!" she was rushing around him.

He just laughed and as he was getting out of the bed she threw his pants at him along with a shirt she wanted him to wear. "Put that on. You look good in that." She said to him.

He just smiled and obliged. He was also so excited to be meeting his daughter, but he knew it would be hours before they met her and they had some time to not rush around like crazy at 4am.

 **-Later that day-**

Happy was pacing around the waiting room, trying to find her place. Waiting for news from the birth mother, or the adoption agent who was taking care of their case.

"Relax, it shouldn't be too much longer. Last update said she was pushing, for all we know the baby's born already and they're just getting them all settled in before handing her off to us." Said Toby as he sat in the chair watching Happy pace in front of him.

Just then the case worker came out into the waiting room.

The look she had on her face, Toby knew something had happened. And he was bracing himself for what was coming next. Happy hadn't clued in yet and those few moments that Toby knew something had happened, and Happy was still full of excitement broke his heart.

The woman began to explain the situation.

"What do you mean?" Said Happy looking at the woman in disbelief.

"It's within the birth mother's rights to decide to keep the child after it's born. Sarah had been talking with the baby's father recently and he was there for the birth. She didn't have any support before. She was 17 with no one to help her. Now she has the baby's father who's willing to step up. She took one look at her daughter and she decided to keep her." Explained the case worker looking at them apologetically.

Happy and Toby were standing side by side holding hands not saying a word.

"So we're not getting a baby today? Do we go back on the waiting list, what happens now?" Asked Toby absentmindedly.

"Yes, you will go back onto the waiting list. Unfortunately you are not leaving with a baby today. I'm very sorry. I have to go, I'm no longer needed here. Good luck, I'll be in touch." The woman said before walking away.

They were left standing in the waiting room. Happy was completely devastated. She had never let herself get so excited over something before and now it was just tearing her apart. She still hadn't moved.

Toby was torn. He wanted the baby so badly. He looked over at his wife and his heart broke. He pulled her into a hug, she didn't cry or hold him back. She was still in shock. He let a few tears fall from his eyes.

He put his arm around her shoulders and they started to walk out of the hospital.

They drove in silence all the way back home. Once they were in the apartment Toby spoke up.

"Please say something. Anything but this blank expression." He pleaded with her from behind. She stood at the doorway of the baby's room looking in, holding on to the blanket and the tiny outfit she had picked out that morning.

He hugged her and she broke down in tears.

He had never seen her cry so hard, or break down in this way. He just held her. There was nothing he could do to fix this for her no matter how much he wished he could.

"I wanted that baby Toby." She said while crying.

"I know, so did I." He had tears in his eyes too, he let a few fall. "We'll keep trying though. We're still on the list, and we haven't heard from child services yet. They might have a kid for us soon." He was trying to be optimistic, but all he wanted to do was just give up. He was trying to hold back his tears and the slight shaking in his voice.

"I got so excited about this. Now it's gone." She said again while crying, she was trying to calm herself a bit, but it wasn't working.

She stopped crying and slowly walked in to place the blanket and outfit in the crib. As she walked out Toby slowly closed the door to the baby's room and they made their way to the couch. It had been a long day and they both just needed to relax and watch a movie to distract themselves from the events of the day for a little while. They just wanted to be together and hold each other. It was a difficult situation. They were so close to having a baby, and it was just ripped away from them.


	5. The next few days

They didn't go in to work the next day. Toby thought it would be best if they both stayed home. There were no cases, and Walter knew to call them if something urgent came up. Toby had told them that Happy had the flu and that he had to stay home with her. He lied, but he didn't want to tell them what had happened just yet. Their friends knew that they were in the process of adopting and that they were set to receive a baby within the next 2 weeks or so but they had no idea how close they had come to getting the baby the previous day.

Happy was very quiet all day, hardly saying a word. Toby kept trying to get her to talk to him, to explain what she was feeling, to talk to him about if she still wanted to try again. She spent most of the day in her mini workshop tinkering with small devices, re wiring some electronics and doing some busy work to keep her mind off the subject.

Toby tried to talk to Happy, but she just wasn't in the mood. He read a few books about dealing with grief, and more about adoption. He did research and called the adoption agencies to figure out how much longer they'd have to wait. He also called child services to see where they were on the list.

They went to bed that night and Toby spoke up

"Look, I know you don't want to talk about it, but I spent the day calling around the agencies and child services. They said that within the next 6 months we could have a baby. Child services said that we're slowly inching our way to the top of the list." He said unsure if she was going to answer. As he put his arm around her.

"I wanted that baby. I wish it was easier than this for us to have a baby." She said, grabbing his hand and playing with his fingers.

He was kind of surprised that she was talking about it. But added "I know. We're experiencing grief right now. We'll get through this. We will get a baby someday." He said softly.

"You've always wanted to be a dad and I want to have a family with you. Because of the birth mother wanting to keep her own baby, we can't have that. Because of me, we can't have that...I'm sorry. It's not fair." She said quietly in a mildly frustrated tone.

She felt bad, she felt like it was somehow her fault they wouldn't have a baby. She felt responsible, she couldn't do the most basic of things women were supposed to be able to do. She knew rationally it wasn't her fault that she couldn't have a child, she knew that it was medical, she knew that it wasn't something she was choosing, but she couldn't help but feel like it was somehow her fault.

"Do you think that's how I feel, that I blame you?"He asked looking at her now slightly concerned.

She didn't respond, she stared at him silently.

He continued "I don't blame you, Happy. Don't apologize. Infertility is no one's fault, adoptions fall through, this stuff happens. It's in no way your fault, don't ever think something like that. I love you and nothing's going to change that. I know how infuriating this adoption process is, and getting so close to having a baby, but it's just going to take some time. We'll get there." He said with a kiss.

Toby was trying to be the strong one. Happy was usually the strong one, but right now, she was so crushed. She usually hid her emotions, and was hard to read at times. She had started to show Toby her emotional side. He knew that when she did, he had to be the strong one, because Happy Quinn doesn't let her emotions out to just anyone for just any reason. He was glad that he was one of the only people she was ever vulnerable with.

 **-The Next Day-**

Once they returned to work the next day, they tried to pretend nothing had happened. They walked in as they normally did with their coffee cups and holding hands.

They were the first ones to arrive, surprisingly. Toby leaned in for a quick kiss, and they went their separate ways, Happy to work on a car she had in the back and Toby was working an analysis of sorts that he was compiling data for.

Sylvester came in a little while later fallowed by Cabe. Walter and Paige showed up holding hands and laughing after dropping Ralph off at school.

"Hey guys, can you come here please" Said Walter as he stopped in the middle of the garage with Paige.

"Do we have a case?" Asked Sylvester curiously.

Walter shook his head and Paige laughed.

"Happy! Glad to see you're feeling better!" Said Paige as Happy walked closer to her friends.

Happy nodded in acknowledgement.

Toby instinctively put his arm around her shoulders and she put her arm around his waist. He knew this wasn't about a case, but he was curious to see what the couple had to say.

"Glad you're all here. So we uh, we have some news." Said Walter slowly, wrapping his arm around Paige's back.

"We're having a baby!" Said Paige smiling. Walter was also smiling. They both waited for a response from their friends. Paige had instinctively put her free hand over her abdomen.

Toby's arm tightened around Happy's shoulders, and her arm tightened around his waist.

Sylvester was the first to react, he ran up to his friends and gave them a big hug. "Wow guys! That's great! Congrats!" He said excitedly.

"Who would have thought you'd be a dad someday, kid. Congrats guys!" Said Cabe patting their shoulders.

Toby swooped in next "That's great news. The look on your face Miss Dineen, tells me this wasn't planned." He pointed out.

"Walter, with your 197 IQ you couldn't figure out how to use a condom? No wonder the teen pregnancy rates are so high they're dumber than rocks." He said and they all laughed. Paige blushed and Toby continued "Congrats guys" he gave them each a hug.

Happy was standing there not sure how to react. "Congrats guys!" She said as she gave them each a quick hug. Toby was better at exaggerating his excitement than she was.

Once all the basic questions were asked and answered, they all went back to their work stations.

A little while later Paige walked over to Toby's desk. She was standing on the opposite side when she spoke up.

"You've looked into genetics right? What are the odds of my baby being a genius?" She asked.

He could tell she was using it as an opener for bigger questions, she was the easiest person to read. But he answered anyways

"I'm not Sylvester but given that your first child is a genius, and Walter's a genius, although technically Ralph and this kid will only share your DNA, I'd give it about thirty percent. Sly and I can run the exact numbers if you want." He answered.

"That'd be great. Do you think Walter will be able to connect with this baby, if it happens to be normal?" She asked curiously.

"I think he'll do just fine." Said Toby looking back down at his book.

"Is everything okay with you, and Happy?" She asked.

"Everything's great, Paige." He said not looking up from his book.

"Then why has Happy been out back banging on pieces of metal harder than I've ever seen before for the last 45 minutes?" She said as she stopped fidgeting.

He knew that was why she had come to talk to him. He froze and slowly closed his eyes.

She continued "I went to see her, and she wouldn't even acknowledge I was there. Let's try that again? Are you sure everything's alright?" She asked.

"No Paige. It's not alright." he stood up to face her "Two days ago, we got a call. The birth mother was in labour. We spent 10 hours in the waiting room, just to find out that she decided to keep the baby. We're back on waiting lists. We are happy for you guys, really, it's just difficult." He said as he went to walk away to go find Happy.

"Toby, I'm so sorry…If I'd have known I would have waited a few days before telling you guys," She said as she pulled him into a hug.

"No, it's alright, you should be happy and excited about it. We really are happy for you guys, it's great. She's just mad about the other day, and she's taking it out on the pieces of metal that we didn't have at home. It's got nothing to do with you, it's the situation we were dealing with. Don't worry about it. I'm going to talk to her." He said as he walked away.

He walked outside in the back where Happy was banging on some pieces of metal very hard and loudly. He tried to get her attention by yelling her name before approaching, but it didn't work, she had headphones on. Probably why Paige couldn't get her attention. He decided to slowly walk up beside her, slightly in her field of view on the opposite side of the hammer she had in her hand.

He got close enough to pull one headphone out of her ear before she noticed he was there. She stopped and turned to him.

"What?" She said, in a sharp tone.

She had been banging on the piece of metal for almost an hour without letting up. He knew she was strong, but he hadn't realized she had that much endurance. He realized just how upset she must be.

"You've been at this for almost an hour, you're going to wear yourself out. Paige tried to talk to you but she couldn't, so she sent me in." he said trying to explain quickly why he was bothering her.

"I'm fine." She took the piece of metal off the bench and putting it down on the ground next to her.

"No, you're not." He responded staring at her. "I'm not either, and that's okay."

She ignored him.

"Happy, it's okay to be mad, it's okay to even be jealous of Paige and Walt. I know I am." He was still looking at her trying to make eye contact.

She was still avoiding his eyes, but had stopped moving so she could listen to what he had to say.

"They already have Ralph, they weren't even trying to have a baby and now "oops" she's pregnant. We want a baby, and we can't have one. We've been waiting months for someone to give up their child, so we can have one. We get minutes away from getting our baby and that gets taken from us. It sucks Happy, it really does. It's infuriating." He said as he put he put his hands to his head brushing them through his hair. He was just letting all of his frustration out.

"It's not fair." She said as she turned around to hug him.

He held her tightly and spoke softly "It's not. I know it's not. I'm happy for them, it just came at an awful time for us so it's kind of ruining it."

"I wish that was us." She said slightly muffled by her face being in his jacket.

"I know. We'll get our turn soon. I promise." He said, softly kissing the top of her head.


	6. One week later

**I'm not too sure how I feel about this chapter, it needed to be addressed but I don't know how I feel about it...bear with me, the next few are different and longer. :)**

It had been one week since they had returned to work, but it was the third night that week Toby hadn't yet come home. It was almost 3am. Happy woke up to go to the washroom and noticed Toby still wasn't back. She decided to get dressed and go look for him. She decided to check the garage first, in case Walter had heard anything from him. She pulled up and noticed Toby's car was parked next to the building.

She walked in and saw him sitting at his desk flipping a poker chip in his hand starring off into nothing with a blank expression.

"Hey" She said walking closer to him.

He snapped out of it, and held the chip in his hand "I'm sorry."

She nodded her head slowly, standing across from him on the other side of his desk.

"I went out two nights ago. I gambled. I got drunk. I didn't want to go home to you like that, so I came here and slept it off." He said calmly trying to explain himself.

She crossed her arms and nodded again slowly.

"I didn't go out last night or tonight though. I've been thinking about the guys at the bar that night, and how I'm not one of them anymore. I don't belong with them, but I still ended up there. I came here instead last night and tonight, I just read some books and thought about things. I can't sleep." He said slowly standing up from his chair to face her.

She nodded again.

"I just- My mind is a mess right now. We were so close to getting that baby and we didn't. Then Walter and Paige forget a freakin' condom and they're having a baby. They weren't even trying. How fair is that? I know I should be with you right now, but I'm trying so hard to keep it together and I don't like being around you when I'm a mess. You don't need that." He said growing increasingly frustrated with himself.

She walked around his desk and hugged him. After a few moment she spoke up.

"It's okay." She said softly. After a few moments she spoke again, pulling away enough to look at him. "I'm proud of you for not letting yourself spiral out of control." She let out a tiny smile.

She pulled away from him completely and continued in a stern and slightly angry tone. "Running here and locking yourself up isn't going to fix anything. If your mind is a mess, talk to me about it. I know how hard this all is Toby, we're in it together."

"I'm sorry." He reached out to put his hand on her arm. "I know. I know right now we need each other more than ever. It's just- this place, feels safe. I want to be with you, but I don't want to be a mess. If I can't deal with this properly, how the hell am I supposed to be a parent? I can't be off gambling, I can't be here once a week. I don't want to be like my dad was. What if I'm not good at it, what if I mess our kid up?" he was annoyed and slightly angry with himself.

She looked at him like she understood him, almost sympathetically.

"You went out one night in the last 3 years. You messed up, it happens. You pick yourself up and you start all over again." She said sternly walking over to sit on the arm of the couch.

He sat down on the couch beside her.

She continued "You're going to be a great dad, I've never doubted that. You're going to be so in love with that kid, and you're going to be so busy being an amazing dad you won't even think about gambling. I'm not the shrink, but if you have that overwhelming feeling, talk to me, and we can figure things out."

"I don't want to mess this up, Happy. Everything in my life was so good before this week…" he trailed off.

"I know" she said putting her hand on his shoulder. "This week's been tough, but we'll get through this."

"We need each other now more than anything else. Can we go home and just be together? Even if we don't sleep, can we just be together and talk about it? I'm sorry I've been gone, and I'm sorry I messed up, I don't want to do this to you ever again. I'm really sorry, Happy." He said calmly, and softly as he put his hand on her knee.

She could tell he felt really bad about gambling. He had been clean for almost 3 years. She knew how much he was struggling with the adoption falling through, but she hadn't realized it was enough to send him gambling again.

He didn't need a lecture, or for her to be mad at him, he just needed someone to understand him and someone to be there for him. He really didn't want to go back to gambling, but it was something he had to fight the urge to do when things got tough. This was the toughest thing he had been through in a long time, and he just gave in. He didn't know how to deal with the disappointment, anger, jealousy and sadness he was feeling all at once.

"I know," She leaned in and kissed his head. "Let's go home."


	7. 4 Months Later

They were at the garage early one morning, they were both in the kitchen getting some coffee, and the rest of the team was doing their own thing.

Toby's phone rang, and he answered "Hello? Yes, Dr. Tobias Curtis. She's my wife." Happy was looking at him confused.

She still wasn't used to hearing him say "wife" so casually. He did it all the time and they had been married for over a year, but sometimes she smiled because she loved the way he said it. It still gave her butterflies from time to time.

He continued to talk "Yes. Really? Yes. Oh. I'd like to meet him first. We would love to. I'll talk to my wife and we'll be there within an hour. Thank you so much." He finished and hung up.

He looked at Happy with a smile on his face.

"That was child services. Now, I know you wanted a baby, but they have a 2 and a half year old they would like us to meet."

She grabbed his arm and smiled at him in excitement.

He smiled and continued "Only thing is, they said he's been returned quite a few times, the foster parents can't seem to deal with him... Some think he might have Asperger's. The woman said she thought we might be able to handle a child who's a little challenging because I'm a shrink, I told her I'd like to meet him first. I'll be able to judge if we can handle him or not. She said we can go down and meet him as soon as we can, she has him at her office right now."

Happy's smile left her lips a little bit. She didn't know if she'd be able to handle a child with disabilities. She didn't even know if she'd be able to handle a normal child. She only ever related to geniuses. They decided to go down to the office and meet the little boy anyways. Meeting him wouldn't do any harm.

"I know it's not what we wanted, but I can assess him, maybe it's mild, maybe I can work with him. Maybe he's just odd. The kid's almost 3, and has been tossed around a lot, maybe he's just acting out. We can assess him, there's no way to know if we don't even give him a shot. We can meet him, then decide alright?" Said Toby trying to convince her it was a good idea. He knew it wasn't exactly what they wanted. They would have preferred a baby, but Toby just felt bad for the boy, he wanted to give him a shot. They had signed up with child services, so they figured they would give it a shot.

 ***At The Office Later That Day***

"Lucas, this is Dr. Curtis, and his wife Happy. They'd like to talk to you a little bit if that's alright?" Said the woman as they walked into the small play room where the boy was. He appeared to be reading a book, and the boy was tiny, smaller than the average 2.5 year old, he had dark skin, tight curly black hair, and bright light brown eyes.

"Hi Lucas, How are you?" Asked Toby smiling at the little boy as he sat down on a tiny chair. Happy held his hand and sat on another tiny chair next to him.

"I'm good. How about you Dr. Curtis?" Said the little boy. His speech was impeccable for a 2.5 year old.

"I'm good, thanks for asking buddy. What'cha looking at there?" Continued Toby.

"It's a book about airplanes." Said the little boy turning the book to show them.

Toby and Happy both noticed that the book was much more advanced than a child could read. It looked like it was for teens or people who were starting out a new hobby. They assumed he was just looking at the pictures.

"See this one? It's a Boeing 747. It's one of the largest commercial aircrafts. It does international flights mostly. It can go up to 180 miles per hour at takeoff." He said smiling at them as he put the book down and got up to grab a toy.

Happy looked at Toby dumbfounded. "It's all true. Do you think he could have memorized that from someone? Do kids do tricks like that?" She asked.

"It's a possibility…" Said Toby staring intently at the boy.

"Hey Lucas, what's that speed in Kilometers?" He asked

"290" Lucas responded as he was looking for some toys.

"That's astounding. I don't think he's got that memorized from anywhere." He whispered to Happy.

She got up and went to the boy passing him a toy airplane that was on the table behind him. She crouched down in front of him.

"What's the fastest airplane?"

"SR-71 Blackbird, speeds of up to 2193.2 miles per hour." He said never looking up from his toy airplane

"How about cars?" she asked him trying to look him in the eyes.

He avoided her gaze but answered "Bugatti Veyron. 267.8 miles per hour." He said.

Toby was just watching in amazement. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Happy continued to quiz the boy.

"If a car is going 150mph this way" She drew a line on the piece of paper in front of her. "And another car is going 130mph this way" She drew another line. "But the one going 130 left .3 minutes before the other car, and they're both traveling 1mile, will they hit?" she asked him

He didn't even look up from his toys, he didn't look at which way the lines were going on her page, but he answered her question. "They will miss by a fraction of a second. If there's too much wind resistance they might actually hit each other which will send them both spiralling out of control."

He took the pencil from her hand and started drawing on the paper "This car will go this way and spin like this, this car will spin like this. That one will have more damage though" He said as he put the pencil down and went back to his toy.

Happy walked back over to Toby. "There's no way he could have known all of that."

Happy walked back to the boy, and passed him a random book off the top shelf, it happened to be a young adult novel. "Can you read this?" She said as she opened the book to a random page.

The young boy started reading it out impeccably.

She looked at Toby with a shocked expression. No 2.5 year old reads that well. Most kids don't even start reading until about age 5.

Toby spoke up loudly "Lucas, look!"

He threw a toy truck across the room. "Can you tell me how fast the truck was going?"

"9 miles per hour." He responded now making eye contact with Toby.

"Is that right?" He looked over and asked Happy.

"My guess would be about the same." She answered with her eyes focused on the little boy.

They were both amazed that they had somehow found this little boy genius. He didn't have Asperger's, he wasn't even delayed. He was a genius with a kind of low EQ, but that was not an issue for Toby and Happy. Ralph had a low EQ as well when he first met the team. Over the last few years, with help from the team and Paige, he had now developed a virtually average EQ.

The boy looked up at Toby "What kind of doctor are you?"

"I'm a psychiatrist." He responded.

"So you're just here to ask me questions about my brain and my feelings?" The boy asked.

"Sort of. Lucas, why did your last foster parents bring you back?" He asked softly.

The boy looked down. "They didn't like me. They got mad at me when I would tell the other kids their homework was wrong. I tried to build a robot friend out of things I found in the house, but they didn't want me to break stuff." He responded sadly.

Happy and Toby both looked at the boy who has essentially just stolen their hearts.

"We'll be right back. I promise we'll come back and talk to you." Said Happy pulling on Toby's jacket as she got up to leave the room.

"He's a genius Toby. He's just like I was as a child. He's probably got the same kind of memory I have and similar proficiencies too. We can work with him. He grabbed the pencil from my hand and avoids eye contact because he's got a sort of low EQ. His mind is incredible though. We have to have him." She said once they were out in the hallway.

"I see that. He is definitely a genius, not delayed in any way. Want to ask the case worker if we can adopt him? She already said he could be ours. Do you want to talk to him some more?" Asked Toby.

She nodded in agreement and they went back into the room.

"Hey buddy, told you we'd be back." Said Toby as he sat back down. "So look, I'm not just a psychiatrist here to ask you questions. My wife is with me, because we want to adopt you." He took Happy's hand in his as he spoke.

"You guys want to adopt me? No one ever wanted me before." He said looking at them with a small smile.

"You've been in foster care since you were born right?" Asked Happy.

"Yeah, I remember all the homes I've been to. I've been to 6." He said to them.

"I was in foster care too. I know it sucks buddy, especially for someone who's misunderstood. After 2 years they open your file up, so someone can adopt you." She said smiling. "They called us because they thought we would like you, and we do." She smiled again.

"You guys want me?" He said smiling.

"Yeah we do, kid." Said Toby.

The little boy walked a little closer to them and smiled.

"We're going to go talk to your case worker, and sign some papers, alright? We'll be back in a little bit for you." Said Toby as he and Happy got up.

The boy agreed and had the biggest smile on his face.

They left the room and found the case worker. She gave them all the information she could about Lucas's background, and his file.

"We would like to adopt Lucas." Said Toby affirmatively.

"Alright, we'll have to discuss some aspects of his case, get some paper work done and then you can be on your way." Said the case worker as she gestured for them to take a seat, indicating it would be a while.

Toby and Happy sat down and filled out some paper work while the case worker, Ms. Hunter, gave them some insight to Lucas's case.

"He's been to 6 homes in the last 2.5 years. None of the other parents have been able to keep up with him. He's been known to be smart, but not have much in terms of social skills. That's why they speculate he may have Asperger's." Toby and happy glanced at each other, they knew the woman wouldn't believe them if they told her he was a genius, so they went along with what she was saying.

"How did he end up in the system?" asked Happy, not really sure if she wanted to know.

The woman nodded slowly, "His father is unknown. His mother had 2 other children, both of which had been taken away by the state and been adopted into other families. Those families didn't want another child, or a child with special needs. The other 2 were taken away due to unfit living conditions, and that their mother had ended up in prison a few times, nothing too serious, but crimes non the less."

Toby and Happy nodded taking in all the information.

Ms. Hunter continued "The mother had a rough childhood, she had her first child at 15. Fast forward 8 years, 2 kids, addictions, and a few felonies later, Lucas was born. She had just got out of prison, the state took him right away. They placed him in his first home until he was about one, that home could no longer take care of him due to his high energy, they brought him back to us. The other 5 homes after that couldn't take him for very long. Once he was 2 and with a family, we opened the case up for adoption, that family didn't want him either, and brought him back yesterday."

Toby thought these people were crazy for not loving Lucas, he already did.

"And you thought we would be good for him?" Asked Toby.

"Yes, well I received your file a while ago, but we didn't have any children I felt would fit in with your rather unusual lives. But Lucas is different, he's very bright. I was going through the list of potential candidates, and a few of my first choices didn't even want to meet him. I figured since you were a psychiatrist, you would be open to the possibility of a child with some delays. As you've seen, it's just the social aspect that he's not too good at."

"Well, he's great. He'll do just fine with us." Said Toby "Where are the official adoption forms?" he smiled handing back the first set of pages they had to fill out.

"Are you sure you want to adopt him? He's a special kid." asked Ms. Hunter

"We've waited a really long time for this. He's perfect, we know he's going to thrive with us." Said Happy as she smiled at the woman.

"Well alright then, let's get your papers filled out" The woman smiled.

They signed the adoption papers and went back in to take the boy home. The woman also gave them a car seat for the boy that they had to return at a later date. They weren't prepared to bring a 2 year old home that day.

 ****Later on Once They Arrived Home****

Once they got home, they showed him around the house explaining where everything was. Toby was carrying Lucas as they walked around the house. Happy carried in the boy's tiny suitcase and dropped it in the living room. Once they got to the boy's bedroom they realized that they were opening the door for the first time since the baby they almost got a few months before.

Lucas's eyes lit up when he saw the animal themed bedroom. "Whooaa! This is my room?" he asked.

Toby nodded his head.

Happy realized that they were going to have to fix the room up to be more for a genius 2 and a half year old boy, and not a baby girl.

"We're going to get you a big boy bed this week, until then you can sleep in the crib, I can take the front bars off. We can get the change table out of here and get you a toy box, how about that? By next weekend we'll have new stuff for you." Said Happy with a smile as she messed up the little boy's hair.

"Wow! I love it!" he said as Toby put him down so he could walk around the room.

He ran to the living room to grab his suitcase and brought it back. All he had was a small suitcase of a few pieces of clothing, a teddy bear, and 2 books. Toby looked at the little boy in pity and looked over at Happy who hadn't stopped smiling since they signed the papers.

"We're going shopping tomorrow. We're getting him more clothes and stuff." Said Toby as they watched the boy dump the contents of his bag onto the floor. Happy nodded in agreement.

Toby and Lucas sat on the floor and read some books and talked about cars. Toby didn't know much about cars, but he had picked up some stuff from Happy, and he was going to learn more from Lucas. Happy went pick up some pizza for them for dinner. When she got back they sat at the table and had dinner together. As a family. They talked for a long time getting to know Lucas, and he was a very curious kid who wanted to know all he could about his new parents. He wasn't even 3 yet and he was a better conversationalist than most geniuses were their entire lives.

"What's your jobs?" asked the boy as he was eating the pizza. They had put a stack of books on the chair so he could see and reach properly. They were going to have to buy him a booster seat for the table, he was a little too old and advanced for the high chair that they had in storage.

"We both work for Scorpion. We're a team of geniuses. We basically save the world. But I'm a psychiatrist, and behaviourist. I know all about people. Happy's a mechanical engineer. She knows all about machines and buildings." Answered Toby. "You'll get to meet the rest of the team tomorrow, we'll be hanging out at the garage a lot."

"What's your favorite food, Lucas?" Asked Happy.

"I like pizza, spaghetti and fruits, and chicken fingers. I like almost anything. I don't like sea foods though it's gross." He said making a face.

They both chuckled.

"Has anyone ever told you that you were a genius? That it's special and good that can build stuff and that you remember everything?" Asked Happy curiously.

"Nope." He said taking another bite of pizza. He continued once he was done chewing. "They called me weird a lot. Some called me retarded and stupid. No one let me build stuff. They all keeped getting mad at me. A few of the homes used to hurt me for it…" he said looking down and making a sad face.

Happy and Toby looked at each other.

"You guys are good, right? You're not going to hurt me?" He asked, he looked almost on the verge of tears.

Happy got up off her seat and crouched down by the boy's side holding his hands. "Baby no, never, we are never going to hurt you. We're always going to make sure you're safe. We're going to teach you so many things. We'll never get mad at you for building stuff or being smart." She looked at the boy who was now just staring at her.

Toby walked over to the other side of Lucas and added "Buddy, you're an actual genius, you've probably got an IQ close to Happy's, which is really high, with the same proficiencies. It's like a super power." He smiled at the boy who smiled back at him "She understands you more than anyone else in the world. Being with us, and Scorpion is going to be a safe and fun place for you. We're all geniuses. You'll see. You're going to thrive with us, kid." He placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

Once they were done putting the boy to bed, and cleaning up their apartment a little bit, they got ready and went to bed. They had also had a long day, and they both knew they weren't going to sleep right away. They spent over an hour talking about their new son.

"He's great isn't he?" Said Happy pulling the blankets back.

"He's perfect, and he's ours." Said Toby helping her.

They got into bed and settled under the covers.

"I told you we would get a kid. The first one just wasn't meant to be. I know it was hard, but I'm really glad we ended up with Lucas. He's going to do great things with us and Scorpion. He's just like you Happy it's incredible." Said Toby.

He continued "When you went to pick up the pizza, he was telling me all about the robot he tried to build, and about the really cool cars he wants to see. He's exactly like you."

"It's insane how smart he is. Talking to him I forget that he's not even 3 yet. He sounds and acts like a 2 year old, but he just talks like such an adult. He's so curious about everything too. I can't wait for everyone to meet him." Said Happy wrapping her arm around Toby and putting her head on his chest.

"We're a family. We have a son, Happy, you're a mom." He said smiling and kissing the top of her head.

She looked up at him smiling. It was really the first time it hit her that she was a mom and that she now had the family and stability she had always wanted when she was younger. She got a warm and excited feeling hearing him say she was a mom. It was something she never thought would happen, and now it finally had, and it had just hit her that it was real.

Toby continued "I never thought I'd get all of this. I have an incredible wife who I fall more and more in love with each day. A son who's an amazing little guy. A family. A good job. Friends. I never thought my life would be this great. Hell, sometimes I didn't even think I'd make it to 30 years old."

"I'm so glad I get to do this with you Toby. You're already an amazing dad to that little guy." Toby smiled back at her. He was also excited that someone had said it. He had only dreamed of having a child, now that it was real he couldn't believe it.

"I wouldn't want this with anyone else but you Toby, you're incredible. You really have changed my life in more ways than you'll ever be able to understand." She said and then pulled him into a kiss.

 *****Please note that I don't know too much about the adoption process in general, but I know even less about the American system. Forgive the probable inaccuracy of the scenario with the cars (when Happy is quizzing Lucas). Keep in mind Lucas may be a genius, but he is only 2.5, so the structure and way things are worded aren't exactly as good as they could be, it's written to "sound" like a child. Also, it's just a story.**


	8. The next day

Lucas still needed help picking out his clothes and he put his shirt on backwards. It was a reminder that he may be a genius but he really was only 2 and a half.

Once they were all dressed and ready to go, Toby picked Lucas up and carried him out to the car, Happy fallowed behind them.

"Where we going?" He asked Toby as they were walking to the car.

"We're going to the garage today, buddy. We're going to meet the rest of the team." Said Toby as he was putting the boy in his car seat and trying to tie it up. He was new to this, he was still struggling with the stupid buckles.

"Toby, what if they don't like me?" Asked Lucas as Toby was getting into the passenger seat.

"Don't worry, they're going to love you." He responded looking at him through the rear view mirror.

 ***At The Garage***

They pulled up to the garage and got out of the car. Toby was holding Lucas with one arm, and holding Happy's hand on the other side when they walked into the garage.

Everything went silent when they walked in and everyone slowly made their way over to them.

"Guys, we'd like you to meet Lucas, our son. We adopted him yesterday." Said Toby.

Paige was smiling as she walked closer to get a better look. "Guys! He's adorable! How old is he?"

"He's two and a half. But he's –" Said Happy before she was cut off by Walter

"Right. You didn't think to warn us that you'd be bringing a toddler into the garage. It's a dangerous place" He said crossing his arms.

He had clearly been reading parenting books and learning from Paige, as she was now about 5 months pregnant, and he was starting to realize the implications of a small child.

"Walter its fine." Said Toby with a smile.

"He's cute, guys! Congrats!" Said Sylvester.

"Thanks Sly" Said Happy.

They were trying to explain that the boy was a genius, but everyone kept cutting them off with all their questions and concerns.

Cabe and Ralph were standing there not speaking. Just smiling.

"He's a little shy, but he's amazing." Said Toby turning to look at the little boy in his arms while pointing out everyone in the garage.

"That's Paige and Walter, they're together and Paige is having a baby. Ralph's Paige's kid, you guys will be friends. That's Sylvester, he's going to make you wash your hands a lot. That's Cabe. He looks menacing, but he's not. You can call them by their first names, or you can call them your aunts and uncles, it's up to you."

The little boy nodded in agreement.

"Toby, you don't think he actually understood all that, right?" Said Paige with a slight laugh.

"He's a genius. He's probably got an IQ similar to Happy's, he's got the same proficiencies as her as far as we can tell. He knows so much about planes and cars. He tried to build a robot before." Said Toby proudly.

Walter was studying the child with a puzzling look on his face. He didn't seem to believe what his friend was saying.

"Walt, watch this." Said Toby as he passed Lucas off to Happy. He walked around and grabbed an eraser off a desk and launched it across the room.

He turned and looked at Lucas and said "Buddy, how fast was that going?"

Lucas just looked and at him with a shy expression on his face "12 miles per hour."

"Incredible." Said Walter. Walking closer to the child in Happy's arms.

"Can you rewind or pause your dreams?" Walter asked Lucas, who simply nodded in agreement.

Walter grabbed a book he had sitting on the table next to them. It happened to be one of Toby's psychology books, which was obviously advanced. "Can you read this?" he said holding the book up to a random page in front of the boy.

He started reading it clearly and concisely.

"He's definitely a genius. I haven't seen enough to know exactly where he stands, but we'll figure it out." Said Walter as he turned to Paige"You'll have to help me figure out how similar he is to Ralph when he was a small child."

He continued looking at the boy "Judging by the fact that he can calculate speed with such accuracy, I'd put him at about the same as Happy as well, given that he also likes to build things, I'd say he has similar proficiencies. Welcome to Scorpion, Lucas." He said with a smile.

As their time at the garage went on that morning, Lucas became more talkative and got comfortable with everyone. He was walking around looking at everything and touching anything he could. He would ask the others random questions like what their favourite colour was, or what their special powers were. He liked to think that he had special powers to build stuff, like Happy.

While the little boy was wandering around getting used to his surroundings and his new family. Walter walked over to Happy who was sitting on the couch watching her son, making sure he didn't get into anything he wasn't supposed to, and trying not to hover over him too much. He was a curious kid, and she wanted him to learn on his own. Walter dropped on the couch beside her.

"He seems to be very advanced. I'd put his IQ close to yours, 182-187. He was showing me how to fix the old broken microwave we have laying around in the kitchen. We just bought a new one because we needed an upgrade anyways, but he fixed it. We uh, have two now." He said with a slight smile.

"He's amazing." She said while still keeping her eyes locked on the toddler who was now asking Sylvester questions about his super fun guy action figures.

"How are you and Toby adjusting to your new rolls?" He asked as he sat up straight next to her putting his elbow on his knees and his hands up to his chin.

"I think we're adjusting well, but it's only been a day." She smiled watching Lucas run over and jump beside Ralph next.

"Walt, don't be worried about connecting with your kid. You'll be fine and you'll have Paige to help you." She said looking over at him.

She knew that's what he was really trying to understand. He was seeing if he would be able to be a parent. If geniuses could raise children and successfully connect with them.

"For what it's worth, Happy, I think you're going to be a, uh, great mother, you already are. That child is lucky to have you." He said looking at her. "You're already giving him the best life a genius could have. You've changed his life."

"Thanks. He changed ours." She smiled before she got up to grab Lucas who was now staring intently at her welding equipment. -Man he was a busy child, he never stopped moving- She could tell he was trying to figure out how it worked, and she needed to talk him out of that before he tried anything.

A little while later Happy walked over to her area of the garage with Lucas in her arms. "All these tools are mine. We'll find some old electronics and parts, and together, we're going to build you a robot, kay?"

His eyes lit up "Can we make it talk AND light up, I never had enough parts to do that before." he asked.

"Sure buddy, whatever you want. I'll get you a little desk set up with the tools you can use and you can tinker around with some other little things alone too, sound good?" She said smiling at him while putting him down so he could check everything out.

"This is so cool, Happy!" He said his eyes still wide in amazement.

Toby was watching through the shelving unit with a smile plastered on his face. Paige walked up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Great isn't it?" she asked

"The best. She hasn't stopped smiling since we signed the papers yesterday. I've never seen her so happy, and he's just constantly melting my heart. I couldn't have asked for any better." He said turning to look at Paige.

"That feeling doesn't go away…it's amazing." She said as she patted his shoulder. "That's what I feel when Walter and Ralph bond. Every time." She smiled.

"It's incredible. How are your two geniuses coping with the thought of a new baby coming soon?" He asked

"Good. I think… They both randomly tell me disturbing facts about pregnancy that I don't need to know, or already know, but I'm glad they're curious and doing research…I think." They both laughed as Toby agreed.

"How are you doing with all this? Second pregnancy, genius baby daddy, Ralph not being an only child anymore… trusting a new man as the father of your child." He asked her curiously.

She nodded for a moment. She wasn't sure if she wanted to have this conversation with Toby, but he was one of the only people she could trust who would understand it from a psychological aspect. He knew all about how the genius minds worked, but he also understood how her mind would work. Toby was good at people.

"Ralph's looking forward to it, he can't wait to be a big brother. He's already so excited you guys have a kid, he loves little kids." She paused, her eyes started shifting "Walter's good. He's so nervous and excited it's cute. He's trying so hard to be "normal" about it, like when the baby kicks and I put his hand over my belly to feel it, he's stunned every time. It's so funny."

"Sounds like them." He said with a laugh. He was so happy for his friends. He knew this kid was going to change Walter for the better, and Paige was already amazing at being a mom.

"What about you miss Dineen?" He noticed how she hadn't answered his question about her feelings.

"I'm good. This pregnancy's great, even more now that morning sickness is gone." She smiled "To be honest, I'm just a little scared. Drew and I had made all these plans for our life with Ralph and he left. I became a struggling single mom. I know Walter's nothing like Drew, but I can't help but be a little bit scared of something happening again and having two kids…" she trailed off with tears in her eyes. Pregnancy made her very emotional.

He pulled her into a hug "Paige, don't worry about Walt leaving you. He doesn't state anything but facts, if he says you're going to take a trip to Disney world in 8 years, count on that happening. He always keeps his word. He's never leaving you. He may be a genius, but he's changed since you've been in his life, and even more since you've been pregnant. He's never going anywhere. He talks about you and your family together with so much love. I think he's truly happy for the first time in his life."

She had stopped herself from crying and he pulled away from her enough to see her face.

"Also if he ever does anything stupid, you know Happy's going to kick his ass into shape." He said and they both started laughing.

"Whoa! The baby's kicking like crazy. Want to feel?" She asked with a smile wiping the remnants of the tears she almost shed out of her eyes.

Toby was a little stunned "Sure, I've never-"

She grabbed his hand and placed it where most of the movement was.

"That's insane!" He smiled "I have literally delivered babies, but I've never felt that before." He said with a grin on his face.

After a minute or two she decided to go find Walter and watch him freak out over the movement some more. She thought his reactions were so funny.

She walked away leaving him to continue watching his son and wife bond.

 ***A Little While Later***

A little while later, everyone said bye to the new little family as they left. They had to go spend some time shopping for new stuff to redecorate the boy's room, and he desperately needed more clothes, some toys and books.

By the end of their 3 hour shopping trip, Lucas was getting a little cranky. Another reminder that the boy wasn't even 3 yet. He was starting to be difficult, and losing his cool when they would ask him questions about what he preferred, so they decided to call it a day.

When they arrived back at their place, Toby carried the now sleeping boy to the couch and laid him down. Happy did 3 trips from the car to their place, bringing in all the stuff they had bought, dropping it all him his room. Once it was all in the room, they started to re organize it.

Toby put his new clothes in the dresser while Happy took apart the change table they didn't need. She set up the new toy bin and started to put the few toys they had picked up for him into it. They continued to take the little bit of pink butterflies they had on the wall out of the room, and replace it with more animal and car stickers. Happy took apart the crib, and turned it into a big boy bed, and Toby still didn't understand how she did it using some of the pieces of the change table. Toby stacked some books in the corner and replaced the hot pink area rug for a green one. They set up his new mattress, and put some new sheets and pillows on it, they let him pick out his new bed set, and he chose one with an airplane on it.

When they were done it didn't even look like the same room anymore. Just as they were putting the last few things in place and taking out the rocking chair and trading it for a bean bag chair, Lucas walked into his new room.

"Whoa! This is so much cooler!" He exclaimed with his eyes wide.

"Have a nice nap, sleepy head?" Asked Happy

"You like it, kid?" Asked Toby.

"I love it!" He said running and jumping on his bed.

They both laughed at his excitement.

"It's all yours buddy." Said Toby messing up his hair.

All 3 of them sat on the bed together.

"I like your friends. They're all really nice to me." He said factually.

"They all liked you too." responded Toby.

"I think I love it here with you guys." Said Lucas grabbing Happy and Toby's hands

He continued "You guys are the best home I've ever been to!"

"We're the last home you're ever going to go to. You're with us forever, remember?" Said Toby.

Lucas smiled a grin. "Right"

They had dinner and played a while longer then when they went to put him to bed, once Toby had left the room, Lucas asked Happy about her foster homes.

"It sucked. I was tossed around a lot, some families were mean and hurt me, and some were alright. I was never adopted though, I just grew out of the system. Why do you ask?"

"I don't like a lot of my foster homes. A few of them hurt me a lot…a few were okay though. I have bad dreams about them sometimes. Happy, can I talk to you about my other foster homes when I have bad dreams?" He said with a curious look on his face.

She didn't normally like to talk about her time in foster care, but she knew he needed someone to talk to who understood it. Toby would shrink the poor kid about it, but Happy would actually understand it on more than a textbook level.

She was so sad for him, she just wanted to hold him and make sure no one ever hurt him again. She sat on the edge of his bed and brushed her hand through his hair "Of course you can, baby, anytime you want, I'll always be here, even in the middle of the night."

He smiled up at her "Thanks, Happy!"

She said goodnight, kissed the top of his head and left his room flicking the light off.

She was sure he didn't fully grasp the concept that he wasn't going anywhere ever again. He never had a stable home before, 6 homes before he was 3 was a lot. Everyone had given up on him, just like they had given up on Happy when she was young. It killed her that he had already been through so much and that he knew what abuse was at such a young age. He had a memory similar to hers, so he wasn't ever going to forget it.

Sitting on the couch watching a movie, Happy spoke up.

"He's been abused. He doesn't understand that he's not going anywhere and that he's here forever. He's not even 3 and he's been hurt so badly. He doesn't deserve that. He's got a good memory, he's never going to forget that." She said softly putting her face into Toby's chest.

"We knew that when we brought him home. I can't bear the thought of anyone hurting him. He's so tiny, smart and such a sweet, good kid. It kills me that he had to go through that. Really, that anyone has to go through it, no one deserves that." He pulled her tighter. He remembered that she had also been through similar experiences, for a much longer part of her life and no one had saved her from it.

He continued "I'm just happy we get to stop it. He'll be safe the rest of his life. We get to give him the stable and safe childhood you and I never had. He's going to do great things." Said Toby, kissing the top of her head.


	9. One month later

**Note: Panic attack and talks of child abuse in this chapter. (Happy's past)**

Thing were going great with Lucas. He was already so well adjusted. He still called them by their first names, but they were alright with it, even if he never called them "mom and dad" they were alright with it. They knew he was their son, and he knew they were his parents, they had the conversation many times. It was weird for the others to hear a toddler call Happy and Toby-his parents- by their first names, but it didn't bother them much. They were letting him do things at his own pace.

Lucas loved going to the garage and working on his robot with Happy, it was his favourite thing.

A close second was when Toby would carry him around the garage and psychoanalyse everyone and explain small bits of behaviourism to him. Sometimes that was used as a technique to get him to take a nap, Toby was a calming person to listen to when he was talking.

He liked following Ralph around and copied everything he did.

Walter liked to try and test him about things to figure out exactly where Lucas's strength were and improving them.

Paige liked to play with him, that's when he was really just able to be a kid, she would colour with him or play with pay-dough.

Sylvester would read him comic books about super fun guy, who Lucas had grown to love. That was also sometimes used as a way to get him to nap.

He was adjusting very well to his new parents, family and life.

One morning on their way into the garage, Happy and Toby realized they had never brought the car seat back to child services. They had a new one that Lucas preferred anyways, they just never got around to bringing the old one back.

They took a detour on their way in to work, to bring in the car seat. When Toby parked the car, Lucas realized where they were and started to have a meltdown.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He screamed

"Buddy, what's-"Toby turned around and looked at the kid quickly.

He kept screaming and crying, he had tears streaming down his face.

"I don't want to go back! Don't take me back! Please, Please Please!" He screamed.

"We're not taking you back." Happy said, but the boy was too busy crying to hear her.

They both got out of their seats and got in the back seat with him.

"I love you! Mommy Daddy please don't take me back please! Mommy please!" He reached over and grabbed Happy's jacket as tight as he could, screaming and crying.

He was almost in hysterics now.

"Mommy please! No! No! No!" He was still crying and screaming.

"Daddy please please don't bring me back!" he turned to look at Toby while still gripping Happy's jacket tightly in one fist on the other side.

They were back at the child services office. Where the poor boy had been brought back to many times in the past. He still hadn't grasped the concept that they were his parents and they were never bringing him back. It was a quick reminder that they had come so far and still had so much farther to go. It also reminded them that the poor boy wasn't even 3 yet.

Toby looked at the poor screaming child and reached over to unbuckle his car seat to take him out and hold him.

"Daddy NO! Don't take me back! Don't take me back! I love you! No! I'm Sorry! Don't give me back!" He screamed and was still crying.

"Lucas! We're not taking you back!" Happy tried to talk to him to no avail.

When Toby finally got the boy out of his seat, he gave him a big hug and Lucas wrapped his arms around his neck so tight. They had tried to explain to Lucas that they were just bringing the seat back while he was screaming, but he wasn't listening. After about 10 minutes of screaming and pleading in hysterics, he finally settled down enough to listen to them, although he was still in tears he was listening.

Happy had moved the car seat over and was now sitting next to Toby rubbing Lucas's back trying to get him to calm down as much as possible. She knew the feeling of being taken back all too well. Especially from a good home, those hurt the most. She understood the fear he must have felt when he realized where they were. Her heart was breaking for her son, she knew how scared he was. She was holding back her own tears watching him be so scared.

His cries had turned to slow sobs. He was now quiet and calm enough for them to talk to him rationally.

"Baby, we're not bringing you back. We have to return the car seat that we brought you home in the first day. We adopted you. That means you're ours forever. We're not taking you back, ever." Said Happy as she continued to rub his back.

"You're not taking me back? Just the old car seat?" He said looking over at her, his tears now almost to a stop.

"You're ours forever, kiddo. We're just bringing the seat back, I promise you." Said Toby, clutching the boy a little tighter.

"Promise I don't have to leave, momma?" He asked looking at Happy.

"I promise, we are never leaving you and you never have to go anywhere." She said still rubbing his back.

"I don't want to go anywhere. I like it with you guys. I'm happy here, daddy." The boy said looking at Toby. Toby just smiled at the boy and nodded, "I know buddy, and you're not going anywhere."

He held the boy a little tighter in a hug and kissed the side of his head.

"You good? Can mommy go bring the car seat inside now so we can go to the garage?" Asked Toby softly.

"Yes, she can." He wiped the last few tears away from his eyes "Can we get the missing piece for my robot on our way?" He asked as Happy was getting out of the car.

"Whatever you want buddy." Said Toby. Smiling as he put the boy back in his car seat and buckled him in.

Once Happy got back in the car they headed off to an E-Waste recycling plant to grab a few pieces for the robot, and spent the day at the garage.

Happy was working on some wiring for the robot that was almost finished, while Lucas was following Ralph around. He loved Ralph, the young teen didn't mind having Lucas around and he liked teaching him things. He taught him exactly how to get his way with the older geniuses. He taught him how to mess with them and play pranks on them.

Paige walked up to Happy's work bench and took a seat across from her.

"Hey, how's it going with Lucas?" she smiled.

"It's good." Replied Happy not looking up from her wiring.

"He's so cute. I noticed today that he finally started calling you mom. How did you convince him to do that?" She smiled again.

"He had the biggest melt down I've ever seen, more of a panic attack, and in the midst of his panic, he called us mommy and daddy, and hasn't stopped since." She said still looking at her wiring.

"Poor kid. What happened?" She asked innocently.

"We stopped by social services to bring back the car seat they loaned us. He thought we were taking him back. He saw the building and was pleading with us in hysterics not to take him back. That's why we were late this morning." She said looking at Paige now.

"Awe, that's heartbreaking. Must have been hard for you to watch, given, you know..." Paige was looking to bond with Happy. They were the only two women on the team and now they were both mothers.

"It was, but we got him to calm down. I think he finally gets that we're not taking him back." Said Happy taking a seat.

She realized that Paige had already been so helpful with Lucas, and was going to continue being helpful, having raised a genius. They were friends, but Toby and Paige were closer. Happy always had a hard time connecting with other girls.

"That's good." She said putting her hand on her now fairly large belly.

"How's growing a human coming along?" Asked Happy with a smile.

Paige smiled "It's exhausting. I'm enjoying being pregnant, but I also can't wait for it to be over and to have the little one in my arms."

"Makes sense. How much longer?" She asked

"2 and a half months. You don't have to tell me but, why did you guys decide to adopt?" Paige asked, she had never really asked before.

Happy wasn't sure if she wanted to have that conversation with Paige, but she decided to go ahead and tell her anyways. After all, she would understand.

"I can't have kids." She took a pause. "Besides, we thought saving a kid from the system and a crappy childhood would be good."

"Happy, I had no idea." Said Paige.

"I don't talk about it. Lucas is amazing though. I wouldn't trade him for anything." Said Happy with a smile. She walked around her work bench to put the finished wiring on Lucas's little work bench.

"God. This baby must love you and Toby, I have no idea what it is about you guys. Every time I have an actual conversation with you or Toby, this baby starts moving so much." Paige said as she moved her hand around her belly. "Want to feel?" She asked with a small smile.

"I've never-nah, I think I'm good." Said Happy

Paige grabbed Happy's hand anyways and placed it on her belly.

"God that feels weird! Pregnancy is so weird! It feels like something from a weird sci-fi movie!" She said with a laugh as she pulled her hand away quickly. They both laughed about her reaction.

"It's not that weird when you're actually pregnant!" said Paige through her laughs. "You get used to it."

"Watching you go through all this, makes me kind of glad I didn't have to for Lucas." Said Happy walking back to the other side of her workbench with a small smile.

"You would have been fine. It's not that bad." Said Paige.

"Last week Sylvester was eating yogurt and granola and seeing the texture made you sick. You've also banned Cheetos and broccoli from the garage, and yesterday you threw away my kids strawberries because the smell was making you nauseous." She deadpanned.

 ****Later that Night****

That night after they had put Lucas to bed, Toby and Happy were lying in bed. Toby was curious about some of Happy's past that he didn't know much about. He knew she had a crappy time in foster care, but he didn't know any details.

"Happy, what were your foster homes like?" he asked innocently.

"You already know, they sucked. A few were good, but most were awful." She replied.

"I mean, details? How many were you in? How awful were they? I know you don't want to talk about it, but if or when you do, I can listen. I can be whatever you want, husband, best friend or shrink. I'm also someone you share a child with who went through the same things as you." He said calmly.

He wanted to know more details. He thought talking about some of it might help her. He also knew it was something she didn't talk about because it was painful. It wasn't something she liked to relive. He knew a little bit about them, she had nightmares sometimes and woke up crying, once even screaming. It was rare, it had only happened a handful of times since they'd been together.

She waited a few minutes before responding. She was deciding just how much she was willing to share at that moment. Just how much she could bear to tell him right then.

"13 homes. 5 were good, the rest were bad. Some neglected me. Some pretended I didn't exist. When I was young a few hurt me because I would take things apart and build new things. I ended up with broken ribs and stuff a few times. I ended up in the hospital a few times. My last one when I was 15 was the worst. I got out of the hospital and went off on my own, and never looked back. That's all we're discussing tonight." She said running her hand through her hair.

"Happy, I'm so sorry you had to go through all that. You're incredible, you know that? You're the strongest person I've ever met." He held her tightly in his arms and kissed the side of her head. He was so heartbroken to hear what his wife had to go through as a child and teen. He wished he could take all that pain she had ever suffered away from her.

"Yeah well, that's a part of my life I'd rather leave in the past. It's hard sometimes, like when I have nightmares, or when we get a case that hits too close to home. More recently with Lucas, and I remember being in his shoes. But I'm happy now, I have you. I have scorpion and Lucas. I know I'm safe now. I know I'm not going to get hurt again. Thank you for that. For making me and Lucas feel so safe." She smiled at him putting her hand on his chest giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"But right now we have a little boy who's just starting to get over that part of his life. It's a hard thing to do. It took me a really long time to get close to where I am today." She said.

"I know all of this on a textbook level, but you really know. What's it like, when you think your time at a good home is ending? The fear and panic in his eyes was insane. I never want him to feel that again, it killed me to see his feelings so hurt like that." Said Toby looking over at his wife.

"It's the worst. I threw fits the first few times the good ones brought me back too. It's like, remember the feeling when we almost got the baby the first time? How one minute we were happy and the next we were destroyed and had to start all over again? It's kind of like that, except you're 3 years old and the world is scary. People hurt you in some foster homes, and you have no control over anything." She explained to him. "I never want him to feel that again." She finished.

"I'm so sorry you know what it's like…That's awful. I think he finally realized that he's ours and that we're never bringing him back." He said as he put his arm around her protectively.

He continued "He freaked out, and called us mommy and daddy. Did you hear what he was saying when he was screaming? He loved us, he was sorry, mommy and daddy. In a moment of panic, he wanted his mom and dad. He wanted his most important people, to save him, and that's us. He understands the concept of it, he just didn't know how to express it under normal circumstances. He knows we're supposed to protect him and make him happy." Said Toby.

"I read his file, it said that he was always a little detached from other foster parents. He called them "Mr. or Ms.", a few of them by their first names. He understands we're his mom and dad. He gets that we're supposed to protect him. He's been calling us mom and dad ever since too. I think it's finally sunk in that we're not leaving him, and that this is his forever home." He finished as he kissed her forehead.

"Yeah, I know he did it out of panic, but it's good that he realized that his most important people, the people who're there to protect him, his parents, are us. It was heartbreaking to watch him panic like that though. I don't want him to ever feel like that again." Said Happy snuggling in closer to Toby.

Just then they heard a tiny knock on their door. Lucas slowly opened it "I'm scared and I can't sleep."

"Come here buddy," Said Toby as they both sat up in bed "What's wrong?"

"Are you sure I can come in?" he asked softly.

"Yeah buddy jump in." Said Toby with a smile.

The boy jumped into their bed between them "I was thinking I don't want to go back to another home."

"You're never leaving us. Don't worry about that." Said Toby.

Happy got out of bed, turned on the light and went to look for something.

"But other houses said that, and they took me back, or the case worker lady came to get me." Said the little boy. He was genuinely concerned about having to leave.

Happy walked back in with papers in her hand.

"Kay, see this? These are your adoption papers. These signatures here, mean that we promise to keep you, to never hurt you and be your mom and dad forever." She said pointing to her and Toby's signatures at the bottom of the page.

She continued "This signature, means that the case worker's never coming to take you away." She said pointing to the case worker's signature. Her voice was stern.

She wasn't mad at the boy, she was trying to convince him that he wasn't going anywhere and that he had no reason to be afraid of them ever hurting him or leaving him.

"These ones are from a lawyer and a judge. That means that that by law, you belong to us, not the state any more. It means everyone agrees that you are ours. All these people said yes to you being our son and to you never leaving us." She said pointing at all the signatures and handing the papers over to the little boy who was curled up to Toby.

Lucas analyzed the papers for a minute while Happy and Toby starred at him. He finally looked up to Happy who was sitting on the bed in front of him.

"You're really my mom." She smiled. Happy nodded in agreement

He looked over to Toby "You're really my dad". He also nodded in agreement.

"You're never giving me back because you love me. I'm here forever. You're my parents. We're a real family." He said smiling looking between the two of them.

They both nodded in agreement with him. He looked back down at the papers for a minute.

"Why does it say my last name is different than yours?" he asked curiously.

"We haven't had time to change it or talk to you about that yet. We can do it now if you want to. It's a different set of papers." Said Toby wrapping his arm around the boy.

"Your last name is Curtis. Momma's last name is Quinn. Can we all have the same last name?" he asked

Happy looked at Toby for a moment before replying. "You and I can go to the courthouse tomorrow and change our last names. Daddy can keep Curtis. You and I can be Quinn-Curtis, how does that sound?" She said smiling at the boy.

He nodded in agreement "I like that!" he jumped towards her for a hug.

"I never had a real family before. I love it!" He said hugging her, he then jumped back onto Toby and gave him a hug. "Now I can go to bed. Goodnight momma, goodnight daddy!" He said as ran out towards his room before they could tell him goodnight.

They both started laughing and laid back down.

"That was a good idea, Happy. Showing him his adoption papers." Toby said.

She shrugged "I know that would put me at ease if I was him. Honestly, I was just getting tired of him questioning it all the time and doubting it." She laughed.

He rolled over to almost on top of her and kissed her.

"So Mrs. Quinn-Curtis" he said with another kiss "We never discussed a name change when we got married." He said with a smile.

She pushed him off her and rolled on top of him. "It's going to be hyphenated. And it's what the kid wants, it's not a big deal." She smiled down at him.

"It is though!" He said with a smile. "You're an amazing mom, you know that? He adores you, and you understand him like no one else ever has or will. I love our son and my perfect wife, Mrs. Quinn-Curtis. You have made me one of the happiest men alive." He said as he kissed her again.

She smiled and replied "We finally have our family. I've never been this happy in my life, I never thought I'd have all of this. I love you, Toby, you're an amazing dad and husband. Our son is so lucky to have you, we both are." She kissed him again.


	10. Later that week

**NOTE: Talks of child abuse and panic attack, but it ends in so much fluff, so it's worth it.**

About one week later, Toby and Happy were woken up in the middle of the night around 3am by Lucas's high pitched screams.

They both rushed out of bed to check on him, they walked in and flicked his lights on.

"Luke, what's wrong?" Said Toby as he sat next to the boy hugging him.

"They were going to hurt me daddy, don't let them hurt me." He said between sobs.

"Don't worry buddy, no one is ever going to hurt you. I promise you. Don't worry, you're safe. We're here, you're safe." He said trying to calm the boy down as he held him.

Happy sat on the bed next to him. She knew how scary those flash back memory dreams could be, she sometimes still got them too. She ran her hand through his hair "You're safe here. No one is ever going to hurt you."

He gripped onto Happy's shirt. "Momma they were trying to hurt me again."

"I know baby, but it's not real anymore. It's never going to happen to you again. It's scary, but it's all just a bad dream. Those bad people are never going to hurt you again. I promise."

The little guy was still crying into her shirt, but he was starting to calm down a little having his parents next to him.

"Do you want to talk about your dream? What happened in it?" Said Toby, going into shrink mode a little bit.

"It was the people from my 4th foster home. They were the meanest. Mr. Turner hurt me because I tried to get another cookie because I was hungry. They didn't feed me that day. Mr. Turner found me and pulled me off the counter and I fell on the floor." He started crying again and took a moment to gather himself. "I hurt my head, and my ribs hurt. I don't remember a lot of it, but I know I was really hurt. He was scary. Daddy please don't let him hurt me again." He pleaded.

Toby was angry at the man for hurting Lucas. He wanted nothing more than to find him and give him exactly what he deserved for hurting the poor boy. His heart shattered for his son and the suffering he must have gone through. He was a mix between wanting to cry because he felt so bad for his son and the pain he must have felt, and so angry at the man who hurt him he could scream.

"Don't worry, no one is going to ever hurt you again. You'll never have to see that man again, okay? You're safe here. He doesn't know where you are, and we'll always protect you. Mommy's tougher than anyone I know, she can kick his butt." Said Toby looking at the little boy.

"I know how scary it is Lucas, but you have to believe us. We're never going to let anything happen to you. No one is ever going to hurt you again. We love you buddy, I know it's hard to trust new people and to believe that they aren't going to hurt you, but we won't. You've been here for over a month and we've never hurt you, right? Because we love you and we want you to be happy." She was just stating facts to try and calm him as much as she could.

Her heart was also shattered, she knew exactly what he was feeling and going through. It was hard to trust that people weren't going to hurt you. It was hard to feel safe and trust again. It was impossible to forget.

"I know you guys don't hurt me, and I love it here, you guys are the best. The bad dreams still happen and they scare me. Do you still get nightmares mommy?" He said looking up at her, his eyes were red from crying.

She slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, sometimes."

"How do you make them stop?" he asked, he looked desperate for an answer.

"When I wake up, I tell myself that I'm safe now, that those bad people can't hurt me anymore and that it was all just a bad dream and none of that's going to happen again." Her eyes shifted from Lucas to Toby.

She looked back at Lucas and slowly held Toby's hand while rubbing circles on Lucas' back "I find daddy, he gives me a hug and holds me until I feel safe again. He tells me that it's all going to be okay, and that I'm never going to get hurt again. Daddy's really good at that. I remember that he's always there and he's always going to protect me and make sure nothing bad will ever happen again. He'll always be there to hold you if you get scared, like he does with me. His arms are the safest place in the world, I promise."

Toby was staring at her intently, just then he realized just how much they all needed each other. They were all a little broken in their own ways, but together they were all okay. He was Happy's safe place, and she was Toby's. He made her feel safe, loved and secure, and she kept him from his addictions and made him feel loved and validated. Together, they were Lucas's safe place, Happy was his confidant and the person who could understand him most in the world. Toby was his protector and his best friend.

They had wanted a kid, but they had never realized that they needed a kid. Sure, Lucas needed them to take care of him, and be his parents. They needed him in a much deeper way, he was going to help them in ways he would never understand. Helping Lucas, was helping Happy deal with her past and she was a lot less closed off since Lucas came into their lives. Lucas was helping Toby keep himself addiction free and deal with his own past. Lucas was helping them both become the parents they never had growing up. He was changing their lives in the deepest of ways none of them could even begin to understand.

"Buddy, it's okay to have nightmares. We'll always be here to protect you. You need to know you're safe here." He paused "Are you good now?" Toby asked the boy giving him a hug.

"Can you stay with me tonight daddy? I'm scared and you make me feel safe." Lucas said looking up at Toby, with his eyes still red from crying.

Toby's heart melted. He had never felt so loved, or needed in his life than he did when Lucas asked him to stay, and when Happy expressed –with words- how much he helped her and how safe he made her feel. He had never realized just how deeply he had helped her and how much she trusted him.

"Sure, buddy." He brushed his hand through the boy's hair.

Happy got up, and they tucked Lucas back in. Toby tried to lay on the bed with him, but he was way too tall for the bed made for kids. There was no way the two of them could share the bed. Happy and Lucas laughed at his attempts to get comfy.

"You know what? I'll just sleep on the floor." He said rolling onto the floor from the bed with a loud bang.

They all laughed again

"Here's a pillow daddy." Said Lucas throwing one that hit him in the face.

"Thanks kid." He laid himself down and tried to get comfy.

Happy turned the light off and went back to their bed. She had the very large king size bed to herself. After a few minutes she got up again dragging a pillow with her, she went to lay down on the floor next to Toby in Lucas's room.

"I missed you." She said quietly as she laid down next to him. "That bed is way too big to be alone in. It felt wrong to be there when you're both here."

Toby smiled and placed an arm around her and kissed the top of her head "You know, you're small enough to fit in the bed with him." He pointed out.

"I know. But you're on the floor all alone." She said quietly. "God, listen to me, I'm so sappy now. What have you and this kid done to me?" they both laughed quietly.

"You're a mother and a wife, you're allowed to be sappy." He said with a smile. "We're both sleeping on the floor of our son's room because he had a nightmare. We could easily just bring him to our room and all have a better night's sleep, you realize that right?" he stated the obvious. They both started laughing.

"He likes his bed, he needs to feel safe in his room, and I don't want to wake him up if he's already sleeping." She said softly.

"You're a good mom, Hap." He kissed the top of her head. "Love you"

"Love you too" she said as they were starting to fall asleep.

"Love you three" Said Lucas.

They all Laughed

"I thought you were sleeping!" Said Happy sitting up.

"That's it, we're going to the big bed." He said getting up off the floor and grabbing Lucas sideways in his arm. The boy was laughing hysterically at the situation, as Toby tossed him onto the big bed.

They all crawled in and got comfy.

"Good night" Said Toby

"Night momma. Night daddy." Said Lucas turning to kiss both their cheeks.

"Night, boys." Said Happy rolling over with a smile plastered on her face.


	11. 2 months later

**Probably just going to be a series of short stories after this -Continuing with the same story, but about random days, like Lucas's Birthday, after a case, Christmas & holidays, his first day of school, Toby and Happy's concerns as first time parents, ****that kind of stuff. The big main plot is done now (the adoption and Paige's pregnancy). Probably aren't going to be any huge changes/additions to the stories, just a couple of chapters throughout their journey.  
**

 **Also, Not sure how much I like this chapter, but I felt like I couldn't skip this.**

The whole team was at the garage.

Happy and Lucas were working on the finishing touches of the robot and taking it for test runs. It was almost as tall as Lucas. Toby was watching and trying to help out, although he was getting in the way more than anything.

"Daddy stop touching it!" said Lucas as he stomped his foot. He was losing patience with his dad who was only trying to help, but kept doing all the wrong things. Happy thought it was funny when he got mad at Toby and tried to muffle her laughter.

Walter and Ralph were working on this year's science fair project which had been put in the back room for fear of Lucas trying to touch it, mostly on Ralph's part.

Paige was watching from a distance as she read her book and Sylvester was lost in the numbers on his white board again.

"Uh oh." Said Paige as she froze. No one heard her.

"Um, guys?" she tried again, but no one responded.

She sat up properly and grabbed the remote that was closest to her and threw it across the garage, it almost hit Toby.

"What?" He turned around to see Paige sitting up.

"I'm in labour. My water just broke…all over this couch." She said

Toby rushed over with Happy and Lucas following him. "Walter! Get over here!" yelled Happy.

Walter and Ralph both came rushing in "What? Is everything alright?" asked Walter

"You're about to be a daddy. Miss Dineen's water just broke. You should probably head to the hospital with her." Said Toby as he was helping Paige stand up.

"Right now? Are you sure? Where are my keys!?" Stammered Walter as he went to her side.

Happy handed him his keys. "Maybe you should drive, Happy. You'll get us there faster. Toby, come too. You're a doctor." He said with an almost panicked voice.

"Walter, she's fine. You can drive, you've still got time. Everything's alright." Said Toby trying to calm Walter down.

"No no, someone else should drive." He said with a panic stricken face.

Happy rolled her eyes and agreed. Toby decided he'd take another car and bring Ralph, Lucas and Sylvester to the hospital in a bit once they had gotten Paige settled and they could wait in the waiting room.

Once they left, Toby decided he should clean up the mess on the couch. While he went to grab some cleaning supplies in the kitchen Lucas jumped on the couch.

"Awe Luke! No! Get off there!" he said as he walked back into the room. "Oh god. Ew. Okay, let's to get you in a shower." He was trying to find the fine line between if it was really funny or gross.

"Why?" Asked Lucas.

"Because you're pants are wet, and that's not water." Toby didn't really feel like it was an easy thing to explain to a 3 year old.

"Why? What is it?" he asked again.

"Because, when someone has a baby- You know what never mind, just hop in the bath." He said as he took the boy's shirt off and turned the water on for him.

He went to find some clean clothes they had stored in the garage for him and brought them back to the washroom to change him into once he was done.

Once that was taken care of Toby got back to cleaning the couch. He got a call saying they had made it to the hospital and that it would be another few hours. Happy wanted some company so Toby brought the others over to meet her there.

 **-At the Hospital-**

"Hi Happy, Is my mom okay?" Asked Ralph walking into the waiting room

"Yeah buddy, everything's good. Your little sister should be here in a few hours. We can't go in until after the baby's born though."

Ralph nodded in agreement and took a seat playing on his iPad next to Happy.

Sylvester decided he would stay back at the garage. He didn't like hospitals because of the germs, but he also hadn't been back to one since he lost Megan. Toby decided that he'd go pick Sylvester up later on after the waiting was over, so he could come meet the baby for a bit and then head back out with them.

Lucas climbed onto the other chair next to Happy as Toby sat on the other side of the boy.

"Aunt Paige is having a baby now?" Lucas asked

"Yup, you'll meet the baby in a few hours. She's going to be Ralph's little sister. And Walter is her dad." Replied Toby.

"I wasn't born to you guys but you're my parents." He was stating facts, trying to figure it all out.

"You're adopted. It's like how I call Walter dad sometimes. He's not my biological dad, but he is my parent. He's a better dad than my real dad most of the time." Said Ralph interjecting. "Sometimes the best parents aren't the ones who are biologically your parents." Ralph said and continued to play his game.

"Oh. Okay." Said Lucas. He was just trying to makes sense of it all. He knew that Happy and Toby were his parents, his mom and dad. He was a genius, he could figure a lot of stuff out, it was just easier to ask questions sometimes to get clarification. He went over to Ralph and watched him play the game on his iPad.

Happy leaned over to Toby, "Why's he in different clothes?"

"Oh yeah, um, he jumped on the couch covered in amniotic fluid before I was able to clean it up. I gave him a bath." Responded Toby trying to hold back a laugh.

Happy burst out laughing. "Oh god, that kid."

"He was asking questions about it, so I just kind of changed the subject, he's a little young to know all about the birds and the bees." Said Toby with a grin.

Lucas overheard them talking and jumped back over to his seat between his parents.

"What if I want a baby brother or sister, like Ralph?" He asked innocently.

"Dude, you're 3, you're practically still a baby yourself." Said Toby messing up the boy's hair.

"Hey! I'm not a baby." He said crossing his arms.

"Says the kid pouting." Toby made a pouting face.

Lucas stopped and started laughing. "But Ralph gets a baby sibling."

"Buddy, we're not getting another kid. We're happy with you." Responded happy looking over at him

"But you and daddy can get a baby brother or sister for me."

"We're not getting a baby, just so you can be a big brother." Said Toby making a face at the boy. He continued "Adopting takes a really long time, it took us a long time to get you. We don't want to go through all of that again, besides it means you'd have to share us with another kid. And babies take a lot of time and work, and we'd miss out on time with you." He smiled at Lucas.

"You'll have Walter and Paige's baby to play with, you'll get to be a big cousin to their baby." Said Happy.

"I still want a brother or sister. Can you have a baby like Walter and Aunt Paige, so I can have a sibling?" He said crossing his arms again.

Happy and Toby looked at each other not knowing what to tell the boy.

Happy got off her chair and crouched down in front of him. "Buddy, me and daddy can't have a baby like Walter and Paige did. It's one of the reasons we adopted you. We're happy with you, and you have a really big family as it is with your aunts and uncles and cousins. We don't need to have another kid. I'm sorry, but we're not going to."

"Okay, Fine. Can we get a puppy?" he asked with a smile.

Toby and Happy laughed and she shook her head. "We'll talk about it later, okay?" she smiled at him.

"I think we have enough of Ferret Bueller for now." Said Toby with a smile.

"Puppies are hard work. They're as much work as a baby." Said Ralph jumping in to their conversation.

"Weren't you asking your mom for a dog last week?" asked Toby eyeing the boy suspiciously.

"Yes. She said they were as much work as a baby, and she couldn't do both. I told her we could trade the baby for a puppy as a joke, but she didn't think it was funny." He stated, never looking up from his game.

Toby and Happy laughed again. They loved the two young geniuses and their awkward sense of humor.

 **-A few hours later-**

After a little while Walter walked into the waiting room

"We have a healthy baby girl!"

The friends got up to congratulate him.

"Can I see mom and the baby now please?" Asked Ralph

Walter agreed and they followed him into the room. Toby was carrying Lucas in his arms. The boy had fallen asleep on him.

Ralph got to hold his baby sister first. "She's so tiny." He said

"Her name's Isabelle" Said Paige.

Walter was watching intently. He knew he could trust Ralph, but he was already so protective of his daughter he didn't want to take his eyes off her.

"Want your turn now Happy?" Said Ralph

"I'll pass for now." She said

"Well I want to hold my niece, take this one and I'll hold the baby" Said Toby as they shifted to put Lucas in Happy's arms.

"Man she's so tiny! We didn't get this with Luke, I forgot they came this small." He smiled

The baby started to fuss and let out a few whines. Walter was right next to Toby looking over his shoulder.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"Nothing, she's just fussy. It's been a long day, right kid?" he smiled at the baby trying to cradle her.

"Maybe shift her to your shoulder?" Said Walter "Or here, let me try."

"Walter, calm down, she's just fussy." Said Toby

Paige and Happy exchanged a glance. Watching them try to figure out how to calm the tiny baby was slightly amusing.

"See, told you, she's fine. I did rotations in the NICU, I know a little bit about newborns." Said Toby as the baby stopped fussing. "That's enough baby for me though. Here" he said passing the baby back to Walter, he was still getting used to even holding a baby. It was something he didn't have much experience doing.

"Happy, do you want to hold her now?" Asked Paige as she watched Walter hold the baby slightly awkwardly.

"I guess, take this one, Doc." She said shifting to give Lucas back to Toby.

She held the baby girl in her arms in amazement. "She's gorgeous." She said looking up at Walter and Paige.

"You're a natural, Happy. You don't look half as awkward with her as these two did." Said Paige laughing and pointing at Toby and Walter.

"It's not exactly rocket science. That's a bad expression. Rocket science is easy compared to babies for us." They all let out a small laugh.

Lucas woke up just then

"Hey buddy, that's your new cousin, Isabelle" Said Toby pointing to the baby in Happy's arms.

He put Lucas down so he could go get a better look.

"Whoa. She's little." He said looking at the baby.

Happy nodded with a smile.

The baby started to cry again "Yeah, okay, here you go." She said in a rushed tone and passed the baby back to Paige.

"She's loud." Said Lucas. He wasn't a fan of loud noises. He voluntarily wore ear protectors when he and Happy were banging on metal in the garage. He got mad when Toby had the music in the car too loud and he hated when alarms would go off.

"That's what babies do. They cry a lot." Said Toby picking him back up.

"I don't want a sibling anymore. Can we just get a quiet pet?" he asked innocently.

Happy and Toby laughed "We said we'll think about it." Said Toby with a smile.

Toby decided to go pick up Sylvester so he could come meet the baby. He took Lucas and Happy with him, they wanted to give the new family a little time alone. Once they were at the garage Cabe had arrived and decided to take Sly with him to meet the baby, instead of Happy and Toby going back. It was easier than bringing an –almost- 3 year old back into the hospital. He was a good kid, but he was very active, and restless sometimes when he got a little bored.

 **-A little while later-**

Cabe and Sylvester headed out to the hospital and slowly entered the room.

"Hey Sylvester!" Said Ralph.

"Thank you for coming to the hospital to meet her, I know how difficult it must be for you." said Paige with a sweet smile. She was holding the baby. "Do you want to hold her?" she asked.

Isabelle was sleeping. And Sylvester nodded his head.

She passed the baby to him and he starred at her in awe. "Congrats guys, she's beautiful!" he said looking up at Walter Cabe also congratulated them on their daughter.

"Does the kid have a name?" Asked Cabe.

"Isabelle Megan O'Brien." Said Walter with a smile.

"She's perfect Walt, Megan would be so proud of you. Of course you too Paige." Said Sylvester looking back down at the baby with a smile.

Walter smiled and placed his arm around Paige. He missed his sister, but he loved his memories of her, he thought naming his daughter after her would be a good way to honor her.


	12. A few months later- Birthday!

Happy and Toby slowly and quietly walked into Lucas's room really early in the morning with a few balloons.

Happy jumped on his bed and wrapped him in a hug, and Toby followed behind her.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They both yelled at the same time. They both started laughing at the shocked look on his face.

They were sitting up now, and Happy still had her arms wrapped around him.

"Happy Birthday kiddo!" Toby kissed the top of his head then tossed a few balloons at him.

"Happy Birthday, buddy!" Said Happy giving him a kiss on the side of his head.

"Thanks momma, thanks daddy! This is a great birthday!" he said with a big smile.

"Oh it's just starting little man! We've got a whole day planned, just for you." Said Toby.

"Really? For me? What are we doing?" he asked excitedly.

"Well, it's a surprise, you'll have to get dressed first and find out." Replied Toby.

Lucas struggled to get out of Happy's arms and onto the floor searching for clothes to wear. He started to get dressed and put his pants on backwards. Toby helped him fix them, and pick out some clothes that matched. He had put on some red pants with a red t shirt and it just wasn't working. Toby put him in some nice jeans, a plain white T shirt and an open, button up plaid t-shirt on top.

When they walked into the kitchen Toby had placed a gift on Lucas's seat. Happy wasn't aware of it, she had no idea what it was.

"Here Luke, your first gift of the day." Said Toby with a smile.

Happy eyed him suspiciously. Lucas opened the gift.

"It's a hat! Like yours daddy! We match!" Lucas said with a big grin on his face as he put the hat on.

"You didn't." said Happy

"I knew you'd stop me. But look how cute he is with it!" he smiled at the boy.

She smiled at the boy, then looked back at Toby, "I wouldn't have stopped you." She said with a smirk.

 ***That afternoon***

After they had breakfast, they headed out for their day of fun. They stopped at Patrick's shop so Lucas could spend some time with his grandpa on his birthday.

Next they went to visit one of Happy's old friends who raced cars. Happy had worked on a few of the cars and he always won the races thanks to her. Lucas got to see his first car race down at the tack and then got to sit in the winning car. He was fascinated by all the parts and asked if he could see the engine.

"He's definitely your kid, Quinn." Said her friend Shawn.

Happy just smiled. Lucas started asking questions about the modifications that had been done. Happy and Shawn were glad to explain it all to him. Lucas even gave some ideas on how they could perfect the car's design and how to avoid collision, Happy already knew most of it, but she liked to hear what Luke had to say.

"God he's smart. Did you train him? Are you overdosing him those fancy brain foods? How old is he 32?" Asked Shawn in disbelief of the tiny genius's capabilities.

"Nope, he's a genius." She smiled.

Their next stop was the E-waste recycling plant and the junk yard. Lucas loved those places, he and Happy loved to just dig through the junk and find parts they could use. They found some old parts to bring back to the garage. They were going to start working on building something new, but Lucas hadn't quite decided what he wanted yet. He kept flip flopping from wanting to build remote controlled cars to race, and building a robot puppy, since they had decided against a real one.

Once they were done and driving back, Lucas fell asleep in the car, it had already been a long day for him.

"We've made it 5 months and 12 days with him. Can you believe that?" Said Toby staring out the window. "It's going by so fast." He added.

Happy stayed quiet for a few moments.

"He was so happy this morning, we just said Happy Birthday, and that was good enough for him. He's only ever had 2 other birthdays. I can guarantee neither was special. I bet no one even said Happy Birthday to him." She was staring out the window with her hands gripped to the steering wheel.

"I know. We're making this one special though. We're going to make all of them special." Promised Toby.

 ***That evening***

Soon after they arrived at the garage. Happy carried in the sleeping boy and set him on the couch. Toby brought in all the junk they had picked up at the junk yards.

Happy sat on the couch next to the sleeping boy just running her fingers through his hair.

"He was so broken…We're fixing him though." She said not looking up from him.

"We're all a little broken. We're fixing each other." He corrected her. "We get to give him his first real everything. He's had Christmases and Halloweens and Birthdays, but he's never really experienced any of it. We're giving him that. We're giving it to ourselves too, since we never really got them either until Scorpion, Ralph and Paige. I think that's a really great thing. It's good for us." He kissed her head softly and then told he was going upstairs to check on how the rooftop party was coming along.

Almost everyone had arrived, Paige was setting up the last few decorations with help from Sylvester. There was even going to be a piñata. She needed a lot of help due to the small baby strapped to her chest.

Walter and Ralph were setting up the last few bits of Lucas's present. Toby didn't question it.

Cabe and Patrick were getting the food and BBQ ready.

Happy's friend from the racetrack showed up, and Deputy Director Cooper had stopped by for a bit.

A few other friends they had made over the years had stopped by as well.

Ray showed up on the roof just then. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Ray!" Said Walter and Toby at the same time.

"What are you doing here?" asked Toby.

"It's your kid's birthday right? Walter told me about it, I was in the neighborhood, thought I'd stop by and check out how the team's doing. I've also got to meet Wally and Pearl's kid." Said Ray giving them each a hug.

Ray stopped by randomly every few months to see how they were doing, he would tell stories about his life on the road, and ship out again the next morning.

Toby headed back downstairs to inform Happy that everything was ready and that Lucas could come up. He had no idea he was getting a surprise party. The boy had just woken up when Toby slammed the door really hard intentionally to wake him up.

They walked up to the roof together. Toby had Lucas in his arms and Happy followed close behind.

"SURPRISE!" Yelled everyone on the roof.

Lucas stared at everyone in disbelief. "Is this, for me? For my Birthday?" he asked in shock.

"All for you buddy." Said Toby.

He hugged Toby "Thank you daddy!"

Toby put him on the ground so he could go see everyone but he immediately turned to Happy. "Thank you momma!" He said hugging her legs. She crouched down to his level and gave him a proper hug. "Go have fun, baby." She said with a smile.

He ran off to see all of his friends.

Toby took Happy's hand "I can't believe everyone who showed up." She said in disbelief.

"He's a great kid. He's loved." Said Toby as they walked over towards their friends.

After they ate dinner, Lucas opened his presents and everyone took turns hitting the piñata. Just as their night was coming to a close, Walter and Ralph decided to end it with a bang, and set of their wonderful firework display. They managed to spell out "Happy Birthday Luke" without spelling mistakes. Lucas was watching in disbelief.

 ***After the party***

Most of their guests left, Happy, Toby, Walter, Paige and their kids stayed behind to clean up after the Party.

"Thanks for all your help, he had an amazing birthday." Said Happy as her and Paige were clearing the table.

"No problem, you guys do the same for our kids." She smiled

Ralph was hanging out with Lucas downstairs trying out some of his new gadgets. Isabelle slept in the playpen and Ralph was instructed to call for someone if she woke up. He was old enough to keep an eye on her and Luke, he was almost 14.

Toby and Walter were bringing the gifts and a few other things back downstairs.

"Thanks for your help today, Luke had a great day. Who would have thought two screw ups like us would be family men, throwing kids birthday parties." Said Toby. They both laughed.

"No problem, and uh, I never thought I'd get this, but I always thought you would one day make a great father." Said Walter.

"Dude. You were a dad to Ralph way before you were actually his step-dad. That was years before I even thought about kids." Said Toby.

Walter just nodded with a smile.

 ***That night at home***

Later that night once Toby and Happy were putting Lucas to bed He looked up at them both with a big grain "You gave me the best birthday ever. I've never had such a great one. I'm so lucky." He hugged them both.

"Glad you had a good day buddy, Love you, goodnight." Said Toby as he headed for the door and waiting for Happy to join him.

"I'm happy you liked it, Mr. 3 year old." She kissed his head "Night, baby." She walked towards the door.

"Mom. I'm 3. I'm not a baby." He threw himself back in his bed dramatically.

They both smiled. "You're always going to be our baby, deal with it." Said Toby as he flicked the light off.

Once they were in their room and getting themselves settled into their bed Happy spoke up.

"I didn't even realize I call him baby. Do I do that a lot?" She laughed "It just kind of comes out sometimes." She smiled again.

Toby wrapped his arm around her "Yeah, you do" he smiled. "It's okay, it doesn't actually bother him. He'll always be our baby though. He knows that."

She snuggled in closer to him "Good. I'm really happy he had such a great day. We get to give him everything we never had. He's getting a childhood with stability, friends, parents who love him more than words can express and somewhere he can reach his full potential."


	13. Christmas time!

**I was going to post this Christmas eve, but because of the huge wind storms our internet was out until today.** **Sorry for the delay on the Christmas themed stuff :)**

 **I'll probably keep updating this periodically about random stories/days in their lives.**

Toby and Happy had just put Lucas to bed.

As they walked into the living room Happy spoke up "Maybe we should start wrapping his presents…Tomorrow's Christmas eve and Paige wants us all there."

"Sounds good, let's do it in our room though, that way we can keep the door shut in case he wakes up and he won't see anything. I'll go grab the gifts out of the storage room, you go grab the wrapping supplies." He responded as he walked off to get the boy's gifts.

Once they got settled into their room and started wrapping. Happy blurted out. "I can't do this! Stupid wrapping paper keeps ripping!" She wasn't the best at wrapping gifts…she never was. Toby on the other hand was surprisingly good at it. All perfect seams and folds, nicely tucked in.

They agreed that Happy would handle the easy square boxes or bags, and he would do the more intricate wrapping.

"Do you think we're spoiling him too much? Not just Christmas, but in general?" Asked Happy as she was desperately trying to wrap a box with a lot of difficulties.

"I don't think so. He doesn't get everything he wants. He's not getting a puppy, he didn't get ice cream tonight, and we're not giving in to a sibling. He didn't get that many gifts for his birthday, he got 3 from us. We're spoiling him in terms of a great family, but that's not going to change." Said toby as he gracefully wrapped another present. –How the hell did he do it so easily?

"Right. I guess. In terms of babying him though? Sometimes I feel like it's too easy. He rarely throws fits. He's super independent. I just don't understand how the foster parents could get mad at him, he's the easiest kid in the world. Do we baby him too much? Are we push overs?" She asked.

"We're not. We stand firm when we say no to something. He's just easy. We have to baby him, he's only 3. He's been through trauma, his need for validation, trust and affection is greater. His need for us to show love and compassion is greater. So yeah, we do baby him, but not in a bad way. We nurture him, it was something he never had, so we had to do 2.5 years' worth of it. A child who's been through trauma's needs are greater than a biological child's, or a child who's never been through trauma. He needs to unlearn all the bad and re learn how to trust and love." he said starting to get psychological.

He was right. They did baby him, but in a way he needed. They hugged him a lot, he had been deprived of positive physical contact. They spoke softly to him when he was getting cranky or upset and never yelled. They held him when he cried. They were always open and honest with him about anything he asked or wanted to talk about. They rarely fought, but if Toby and Happy had a disagreement, they never raised their voices to each other and always made sure to make up, so Lucas would see how grown-ups were supposed to deal with their problems. They made sure to listen to him and his concerns when they came up, and make him feel like his problems were the most important thing. They also showed affection to each other in front of Lucas, nothing big, but hugs, quick kisses, and "I Love you" were shown. If a child never sees their parents showing affection to each other, or other people, they have a hard time learning how to show it, it was more subconscious learning. Most of these things were done subconsciously on Happy and Toby's part. Some they paid more attention to when the need came up.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Said Happy clearly thinking about other things. She was still trying to wrap the same gift, and struggling. They continued to wrap the gifts in silence.

In the time it took her to wrap 3 Toby had wrapped the other 7. And they had all been hidden in the storage closet.

 ***Christmas Eve***

It was Christmas Eve, Paige had insisted they all spend the afternoon and evening together as a big family. They had done a secret Santa gift exchange, homemade gifts only. Which was really interesting with a gang of geniuses who could build almost anything. They even got Ralph and Lucas involved.

They had a bunch of gingerbread houses to build, cookies to bake, eggnog –both adult and child friendly, games, a tree to decorate, popcorn to string and even ornaments to decorate.

"When can we exchange gifts?" asked Lucas while he was building his gingerbread house, he broke some pieces to turn it into a fancy house instead of the typical gingerbread house shape. He was standing on the chair so he could see and reach everything properly. Happy was standing next to him helping, and making sure he didn't eat all the frosting.

"After we eat dinner." Answered Paige from a distance when she overheard him ask.

Lucas had taken a spoonful of frosting and scooped it form the bowl into his mouth and thought Happy hadn't noticed

"Seriously think I didn't see that? If you eat all the frosting, you won't have room for the great dinner Paige made." Said Happy as she watched Lucas from the corner of her eye. The boy laughed hysterically.

Toby came around and put one arm around Happy and brought her a cup of eggnog. She took a sip and set it down beside the house. He held up a piece of mistletoe with a big grin. "You know what this means".

She rolled her eyes and kissed him. "You're so cheesy, and you don't need mistletoe to get a kiss from your wife." She said turning back to the gingerbread house.

Lucas watched on with a big grin. He didn't find it gross or weird when his parents kissed. He thought of it as a sign of love. He knew it meant they loved each other. They had also normalized it, he was used to seeing them kiss or hug. Obviously they never did anything inappropriate around him, but Toby didn't find it necessary to hide his cheesy side, he even got Luke to be his wingman sometimes.

Walter was sitting on the couch with his daughter, when he got up to join his friends who were making gingerbread houses. Carrying Isabelle in his arms he walked over and sat her on the table, as far away from the candy and frosting as possible. He gave her a small piece of cookie to chew on, which Paige had approved of. Isabelle was just old enough to start trying some real foods.

"Hey you!" Said Toby as he shook the baby's foot. "Is that cookie good? I bet it's better than that crap baby brain food your dad feeds you, isn't it?" he said as he looked at Walter with a smile.

"It is full of antioxidants, high in omega-3 and vitamins. Besides, she likes it." Said Walter.

"The kid pulls away from the spoon when you feed her. She can't get enough of the banana stuff I feed her when we babysit. Isn't that right?" Toby smiled at the baby

Walter rolled his eyes. Just then Sylvester came to join them. He was helping Paige set up the tree, once they finished he came to build a gingerbread house.

"That house looks so good Lucas!" He said walking up to the table.

"Thanks Uncle Sly. This piece here is going to make the 7th part of the roof." Said Lucas showing him the piece in his hand.

"That's amazing, buddy! It looks great, almost like a castle, or some kind of modern house with the funky designs." Said Sylvester as he grabbed some pieces to start building his own.

Paige had also joined them and was standing beside Walter with one hand on his shoulder and one hand on Isabelle's back she was smiling at the scene in front of her.

Ralph barged in with Cabe and went straight to his mom and Walter "I finally finished my secret Santa gift! When's dinner?"

Paige laughed "In a bit, we just have to clean this up and it should be just about ready. Help me set the table?" she asked.

Ralph agreed and they both went off to help her. Toby joined them while Cabe started to bug Lucas about the accuracy of his gingerbread house, asking him if all the inside walls, windows and doors would work with the intricate design, which sent Lucas on a long tangent about the structural integrity which Happy watched in amazement with a big grin plastered on her face. Cabe thought it was funny, because in all reality, he had no idea if the young boy was right, he just liked to bug him.

"Big Christmas for all of us this year!" Said Paige as she and Toby set the table "You and Happy's first Christmas as parents, first real one for Lucas, Isabelle's first Christmas, Walter's first Christmas as a dad, well I mean, as Isabelle's dad." She smiled at him.

"It's great. I don't know how we all got so lucky." He paused placing a few plates, "Thank you Paige." He smiled.

"For what?" she asked innocently going to get some food from the oven.

"We never had Christmases before you and Ralph a few years ago. You brought that festivity with you. You plan our Christmas Eves every year, you make a great meal and you helped us with the whole Santa thing with Lucas. The kid's 3 and already doesn't believe Santa could realistically exist. So thank you." He walked over and gave her a big hug.

Paige smiled "You're welcome"

Once they were all done eating and Lucas had asked for the 4th time if they could exchange gifts, they agreed. Happy and Toby decided they would take care of the clean-up and had started slowly cleaning up while also participating in the secret Santa.

Lucas was the first to give his gift. He had gotten Happy. He had made her a beautiful mini robot sculpture out of leftover scrap metal and a sautering tool she had showed him how to use, with slots where pictures could be placed on all 4 sides of the box abdomen, and one around each limb. He had placed a small card in the front that said "To the best mom ever for our first Christmas, Love Lucas." And placed a few photos in the other slots.

"Baby! It's beautiful! I love it!" she wrapped him in a big hug "It's perfect!" She kissed his cheek.

"You really like it?" he asked with a big smile.

"Of course I do, it's amazing! Anything you make is beautiful!" She was still holding him and had picked him up in a hug.

"Good! I worked really hard on it!" He smiled

"I can tell. Thank you, baby." She kissed him again and put him down.

Happy was next and she had Walter, she had found a way to build him a part he needed for his new project. He thanked her and they shared a quick hug.

Walter had Lucas, he had made a computer software for him that would challenge him that also had some school programs for him that were at his level. He was a very bright kid and was doing very advanced work for his age. He wasn't even able to go to school yet. Happy and Toby often struggled with if they were working with him at appropriate speed, they were still learning new things that he could do all the time. The program was designed to work to his strengths while also helping him on his weaknesses and improving them. Walter had custom made it for Lucas so he could learn at his own advanced speed.

"Whoa! This is so cool! I can't wait to try it! Thanks Uncle Walter!" Said Lucas as he hugged Walter's legs.

"No problem Buddy." Smiled Walter as he ruffled the boy's hair.

They had all made such specific and intricate gifts for each other.

Paige had Toby.

Toby had Cabe.

Cabe had Ralph.

Ralph had Sylvester.

Sylvester had Paige.

Once the gift giving was done the evening started to wind down, Cabe, Lucas, Isabelle, Sylvester and Toby were all sleeping on the couch.

Ralph, Happy, Walter and Paige were up talking about the last year, and stories about Christmases when they were younger. Happy didn't have many fond memories one or two funny stories. She realized that all of her best Christmases had been spent with Scorpion. They were her family. Lucas was going to grow up with good memories of Christmas and that made her happier than anything else.

Once the conversation had ended, she went to the couch to pick Lucas up, which in turn woke Toby up, since the boy was sleeping on him.

"We should head out, it's getting late." She said as she picked up Lucas.

Toby was half asleep and stumbled to the table, "Thanks for another great Christmas guys, we really enjoyed ourselves." He thanked them and headed out following Happy to the car.

They got home, and put Lucas straight to bed. He didn't even wake up. He had a long day.

They placed all his gifts under the tree and also went to bed.

 **-Christmas morning-**

Early in the morning Lucas ran into Toby and Happy's room and jumped on the bed

"IT'S CHRISTMAS! IT'S CHRISTMAS! GET UP!" he shouted as he moved around between them in bed pulling all the blankets up.

Toby pretended to be asleep to see if he could trick Lucas and get another hour or two of sleep.

Happy's eyes opened slightly and Lucas noticed and jumped on her "Merry Christmas mommy!" he kissed her cheek.

She pulled him into a hug and pulled the blanket over both of them "Merry Christmas buddy!" she smiled

Lucas looked over at Toby "Daddy, I know you're not sleeping. Your eyes are fluttering, and your breathing isn't consistent with sleep. You also moved a lot and rolled over when I jumped in bed. Stop faking it!" Lucas crossed his arms.

Toby opened his eyes and pulled Lucas and Happy both into a hug.

"Merry Christmas, Hap." He said as he kissed her quickly.

"Merry Christmas." Happy said as she smiled back at him.

"Merry Christmas, buddy." Toby said as he ruffled Lucas' hair.

"Merry Christmas, dad. Can we go open presents now?" He said as he struggled to get free from the blankets and both his parent's arms.

They both laughed and followed him out of bed. The kid had been waiting a long time.

Lucas ran into the living room followed by his parents who were holding hands and walking behind him.

"Whoa! So many presents for us!" he said as he saw the gifts under the tree.

They all took a seat around the tree and Toby passed out the gifts.

Lucas opened his gifts and said he loved every one of them. He got some books, parts for his robots and some of his own tools.

Toby passed Happy her gift from him.

She opened it and took a moment to look at it "Toby, it's beautiful." She said looking at him.

"I know you don't wear much jewelry other than your wedding ring, but I thought you might wear this, I wasn't sure if you'd like it. If you don't, we can return it and get something you'd like better." He said as he watched her reaction.

It was a simple chain necklace with 7 tiny heart shaped coloured gems on it.

"No I love it! Help me put it on, please. What do each of the colours mean?" She said as she held the chain out so he could help her put it on.

"One's for each of our birthday months, one is for the month we got married, one's for the month we got Luke, one's for the month you joined scorpion and one's for the month we started dating. I know it's cheesy." He said as he looked at it around her neck.

"I like cheesy now." She smiled. She passed him her gift from her.

"It's not as cheesy and beautiful as my gift" she said as she placed her fingers over her necklace.

"I love it! It's perfect!" He said with a big smile

It was a new wallet, which she had took the liberty of placing some pictures of them and Lucas in. She also got him a keychain that said "#1 dad".

Just then Lucas came running out of his bedroom with a Christmas bag.

"Here daddy!" He said as he put the bag in front of Toby. "I made you this. Mom got hers yesterday, but I had to make you something too." He smiled and took a seat beside him.

Toby opened the bag slowly. It was a second robot similar to Happy's, except his had a tiny hat. It also had photos in it with a tag on the front that said "To the best daddy ever on our first Christmas. Love Luke."

"Thanks kiddo, I love it!" Toby said with a big smile.

"You can move its arm and it can hold hands with momma's robot too." Lucas said with a big smile.

"That's awesome! You're so good at making this stuff buddy!" Said Toby as he pulled him into a big hug.

"Merry Christmas! It's the best one ever." Said Luke as he pulled Happy's arm into a hug.

"That it is buddy" Said Toby with a grin.


	14. New years Eve!

**I'm hesitant about this chapter. I haven't written much Waige stuff before, and it's a lot of Waige. I didn't exactly know where I was going with this when I started it, so this is just where it ended up. I'm trying to keep it fairly chronological, and I wanted a new years eve chapter before I jumped into other stuff I have. I don't know if I'll keep up with this Waige plot.**

Walter asked Lucas and Ralph to help him set up the last of the fireworks.

"I'm so glad I can finally have a drink! I missed wine!" Said Paige as she took a sip.

Happy smirked and took a sip of her wine as well.

"I love my kid, but 9 months of pregnancy plus breast feeding months is a long time without alcohol. I enjoy my casual drinks of wine every so often, especially in a bubble bath after a long day." Paige laughed. She continued on explaining how she had to plan ahead to be able to have some wine tonight because of the breast feeding.

Happy nodded in agreement. "I don't drink often, but I get where you're coming from."

"That's good though. Keep your genius brain cells intact." Paige laughed again. She was already on her second glass of wine.

Happy just laughed and rolled her eyes. Just then Walter yelled for her. He needed her help with some of the timing of the fireworks. Paige followed behind her not knowing what else to do.

Toby, Sylvester and Cabe were taking down the Christmas decorations that were hanging up high. Sylvester was complaining about the way Toby was recklessly throwing the garlands into a box instead of putting them away nicely.

After the fireworks were all sorted out, they went back downstairs to hang out in the garage until it was closer to midnight.

Paige had talked all of them into taking a shot every year together. Walter and Sylvester even joined in. They decided this year it would be tequila. Paige just wanted to watch Walter and Sylvester's reactions to it.

"That is awful." Said Walter as he reached for some water

"Paige! How do you drink this stuff?" Asked Sylvester as he took some water as well.

Toby, Cabe and Paige laughed at their reactions.

Happy made a face, but wasn't opposed to it. She didn't hate it, and she didn't love it.

 ***A while later***

Paige brought out some new years poppers, and told Luke and Ralph they could only open them AFTER midnight. So they had to stay up that late. It was a sort of bribe, because 15 year old Ralph still hadn't managed to stay up until midnight yet. No one knew if Lucas would make it that late, that boy loved to sleep.

It was 11:30 and everyone made their way up to the rooftop. They set up the final steps of the fireworks, took out some of the poppers, and Ralph secretly set up a confetti cannon with Lucas' help.

"Babe, do I get to be your new years kiss?" Asked Toby as he walked up behind Happy and put his arm around her waist.

"Always." She said with a smile.

Just then Lucas walked up to Toby and Happy "Do I get a new years kiss?"

They both looked at him and smiled "Sure buddy" said Toby.

Paige was holding Isabelle and watching Walter set up the last of the fireworks. She walked up behind him and placed a hand on his back "This year I get your new years kiss, right?" she said with a smile.

"Of course." He said and then looked at Isabelle "Sorry" he said with a smile.

It was one minute until midnight, Toby had Lucas in his arm on one side, Happy was holding his hand on the other. Walter and Paige were holding hands and Isabelle had fallen asleep in Sylvester's arms. Cabe was watching on with a smile.

"10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!" they all shouted at the same time Ralph pulled the confetti cannon, that no one except Lucas was expecting.

Toby leaned over and kissed Happy. Afterwards Happy walked over to the other side and Toby lowered Lucas to her level. They each kissed one of his cheeks

"Happy New year" They both said quietly.

"Happy new year momma and daddy. This years going to be the best." He said looking between them both.

 **-Meanwhile-**

Paige and Walter had shared a kiss.

"I would say to an even better year, but I don't know how it could get any better than this, Walter. We got our beautiful daughter this year, we're happy together, Ralph's happy. So I'll just say, I hope everything stays exactly on this perfect track." She said with her arms around his waist.

"It was a pretty great year. I was hoping we could also uh, make this year memorable." Said Walter.

"Walter, 2 kids is enough for us, I'm nowhere near ready for a third." She said with a laugh as she placed a hand on his chest.

He laughed nervously. "What? No! I mean," he reached a hand into his pocket and pulled out a ring box.

Paige gasped slightly and put her hand in front of her mouth "Walter" she said as her eyes widened.

He didn't get down on one knee, he was standing. He had one arm still wrapped around her waist, the other was holding the ring box up. She had one hand on his chest and the other still covering her mouth.

He spoke up "I'm not good at these, uh, speeches and stuff, but Paige, you've made me happier than anyone else ever has. You have made my life infinitely better just by being a part of it. You are the most amazing person I have ever met. You have given me the most amazing daughter and son. You are an amazing mother to them, you would also be an amazing wife. Logically, marriage legally bonds two people, but I uh, you- you believe in marriage and having a wedding, and I want you to have that. I uh, I didn't believe love existed but somewhere along the way you changed that for me. By being yourself, by bringing Ralph into my life, by giving me our daughter. I now know love is real, and that's what I feel every single time I look at you or Isabelle and Ralph. He already gave me his blessing, so Paige, will you marry me?"

She was speechless. She had tears in her eyes. "Yes!Yes, Walter, yes! That was beautiful! Yes!" She said nodding her head quickly.

He slowly placed the ring on her finger.

Everyone else looked on with shocked expressions. No one knew he had been planning on proposing, except Ralph. Walter had talked to him a few days prior, and asked for his blessing. Ralph understood that Walter was asking because he respected him, because they both knew Paige had only dreamed of a beautiful wedding.

Paige had always wanted a wedding, but she was happy. She knew Walter wasn't going anywhere, he had proved that many times over the years. She had accepted that just being together as a couple was enough, since Walter didn't really believe in marriage. She was excited to be getting a proposal she had never expected. She was excited that Walter was ready and willing to make that kind of commitment and give her the wedding, family and life she had always dreamed of.

After Walter and Paige kissed and hugged. Toby and Happy walked over to congratulate them, followed by Lucas, Ralph, Cabe and Sylvester holding Isabelle.

Everyone congratulated them.

Paige was talking all about the nice wedding she would plan, nothing too big, but a wedding with a fancy dress and suits.

Walter took a step away from the group and the noise with Isabelle who had started fussing.

He was holding her facing outwards so she could see everything and he walked over to the ledge of the roof and was looking out with Isabelle.

He started talking to her to calm her.

"Look at all the lights. Look at the fireworks going off all over the city. I know, some of them are really loud." He turned to face his group of friends with the baby "Look how happy mommy is, she's beautiful isn't she? She's so excited. I don't know why I thought love didn't exist, you, you're the result of that love, you happened a little sooner than expected, but it doesn't change anything. You brought us closer together, you've showed me a different kind of love that I-I never thought I'd ever feel." He took a pause to think about his life for a few seconds. Just then Toby walked over.

"Hey, congrats man!" He said as he approached.

"Thank you Toby." Smiled Walter.

"Your face suggests you're a little nervous about this decision to propose. Don't be. She's perfect for you. You're already tied to her for life by this little one. You're not going anywhere, we both know that, might as well make it official. She wants that life, she wants the wedding. She loves you, don't second guess it." Said Toby as he leaned against the outside wall of the roof next to his friend and niece. He made faces at the baby.

"I know." Said Walter with a small smile.

"I know you didn't see your life this way, but aren't you happy it's the way it turned out?" Asked Toby.

"Of course I am. I love them. I can't imagine anything else anymore." Replied Walter.

"Then that's all that matters. Ralph gave you his blessing, Paige said yes and this one doesn't know what happening. Marrying the girl of your dreams, the woman that's perfect for you in every way, is the best feeling ever. Hell, I would have married Happy a long time ago if I had known how great it felt to be married to my best friend and other half. We didn't do the big wedding thing, and we did it on a whim to be able to adopt, but it's still a great feeling to make it official. Trust me, it's the best feeling in the world." Said Toby as Lucas ran up to him.

"Thank you Toby." He smiled again.

"Daddy, can we go home soon? I'm getting tired. Mom said we can leave if you're ready." Said Lucas as he looked up at his dad.

Toby turned to Walter "That's my que to leave. Congrats again man." He turned to Lucas "Let's go get mom, little man." He took Lucas's hand and they went to get Happy.

 **-At home-**

Happy carried Lucas into the house, and put him in his bed. The boy fell asleep about 2 minutes into the ride home.

It was just after 2am when Happy and Toby finally got to bed.

"Did you know he was planning that?" Asked Happy.

"No idea!" said Toby. "It'll be great for them though. Paige deserves the life she's always dreamed, and it'll be good for Walter."

He paused for a moment "Can you believe we've been married over two years? The time's gone by so fast." Added Toby.

"So much has changed since then. So much has happened." Said Happy.

"It's been crazy, but I'm glad you're the one I'm sharing it all with." Said Toby as he wrapped an arm around her to give her a hug.

"I wouldn't want it with anyone else." She said as she kissed him quickly on the cheek. "Happy new year, Toby"

 ****So, I kind of lied about the big stories and major changes, I started writing this chapter and it all just happened so fast haha.** **I don't think I'll continue it to their wedding, but who knows. If I get bored I might.** **Reviews, even if it's just a small acknowledgement are always great :)**


	15. Lucas gets the flu

Lucas was oddly cranky and sleepy that day at the garage.

"Hap, I'm going to take him home, he's coming down with something. Sly's been going nuts with the hand sanitizer." Said Toby as he was holding the cranky boy in his arm.

She agreed and kissed the boy on the head and told Toby she'd meet them back at home in a few hours, she had a few things to finish up at the garage.

Once Toby was home with Lucas, he put on a movie and they hung out on the couch together for a while. Lucas eventually fell asleep on him. Toby could feel the boy's temperature rising, he was obviously getting a fever. He didn't want to move the boy so he waited a while. He just held Lucas as he slept. He was laying down on the couch and Lucas was sleeping on top of him. The remote was just out of reach but Toby was enjoying Star Wars, he was secretly a big fan, so when Luke showed interest they watched the movies together all the time.

It was peaceful in the house, the lights were dim, the movies were on TV, he kept dozing off on the couch, and Lucas slept peacefully. Toby found the entire afternoon and evening so calming.

That night around 6 when Happy came home she walked in silently. Toby and Lucas were sleeping in the living room. She leaned against the doorframe and watched them for a few moments. She still couldn't believe they were hers. She realized she was smiling like a fool just watching them.

She walked up to Toby and ran her hand through his hair and he woke up.

"Hey" she said with a smile.

"Hey, he fell asleep and I didn't want to move him." he said trying to focus his eyes as he woke up.

"That's okay. I picked up some Tylenol, Gatorade and stuff. I'm not even sure I picked up the right kind." She said with a small smile still running her hand through his hair.

"It'll probably work, I think I have some in the first aid kit to take him to his room? I'll grab the meds and stuff and we can check his temp." said Toby quietly as he started shifting.

Happy slowly picked the boy up and carried him to his room. She changed him into his P.J's. Just then Toby walked in and gave him some Tylenol. He took his temperature. He brought an ice pack with him too.

"I know you don't like it, but it'll make you feel better, you know that." Said Toby as he tried to convince Luke to take the Tylenol.

He reluctantly agreed.

"Sleep with the ice pack on you, buddy, it'll help keep your fever down." He said as he placed it on his forehead, "I know it's cold, but it'll help, you can move it to your back if you want."

"Let me take your temperature, I want to get an exact reading. Two seconds, I just got to put this in your ear." Toby said as he placed the device to Lucas' ear.

He was a doctor, so he was always willing to splurge on the fanciest medical equipment. He liked to have a really extensive first aid kit at home. With their job he never knew what could happen, with a child, anything could happen. He always liked to be prepared.

He looked at Happy "I knew his fever was over 100. He's at 102." He said quietly.

Lucas was already sleeping again so they quietly left the room.

"I'm a doctor, but if this goes any higher than 104-105 in the next 24 hours we should take him to the hospital." Said Toby as they took a seat on the couch together.

"I'll stay home with him until he's better." Offered Happy. "I know it's dumb 'cause you're a doctor and rationally you should be the one here with him. I want to be with him until he's better, and I don't know why, I just feel like I should be." She said as she looked over at Toby.

"You're his mother. You're worried about him. He's our son. I'll stay home too." Said Toby as he put an arm around her and pulled her closer kissing the top of her head.

Just as they finished watching another movie, they heard noise coming from Lucas' room. Happy got up quickly and was on her way to his room before Toby was even off the couch.

"Baby, what's wrong?" She asked as she took a seat on his bed.

He was sitting up and letting out small moans and whines.

Toby walked in noting the look on his son's face he picked him up and rushed him to the washroom. He could tell he was about to throw up.

Happy followed close behind and watched on helplessly. She was concerned but she knew Toby had it covered, there was nothing for her to do.

Once Lucas was finished, Toby wiped the boy's face with a cool cloth and took his T-shirt off.

"Let's try giving him a cool bath, hopefully it'll help his fever go down. I think he's warmer than before." Said Toby. He was on his knees at Lucas' level, holding the boy sitting up. He looked up at Happy.

She nodded in agreement.

They put him in a warm bath, about room temperature.

Lucas let out small whines the entire time and cried a bit. He mentioned he was a little dizzy and felt like he was going to throw up again. He kept telling them the water was freezing, even though they both knew it wasn't and it was because of his fever. Once it was done Happy put him in some clean P.J's and carried him back to his room. Toby got the thermometer and brought in some Gatorade.

They checked his temperature again and it had risen to 104. Toby administered some more Tylenol, and told him to drink the Gatorade. He also got another ice pack from the freezer.

"Happy, I know you want to hold him 'till he's better, but he needs to sleep in his bed. Your body heat probably isn't doing him any favours." He said as he watched his wife hold their sick son.

She didn't answer and held him for a few more minutes before she put him down in his bed. Toby placed the ice pack over Lucas' head and one on his side, and Happy stayed by his side and rubbed his back.

"He's so sick and helpless." She said softly.

"I know. He'll be better soon. He's got doctor dad on call." He replied pulling her arm to bring her back to the living room and shut the light off in Lucas's room.

 **-A little while later-**

It was nearly 2am, Toby reached over to Happy's side of the bed and didn't feel her. He woke up and looked around, she was nowhere in sight.

He got up to look for her.

He also went to check on Lucas.

He found Happy sitting on the floor against the wall across from his bed.

"Hey," He said softly as he opened the door and went to take a seat next to her. "Hey, he's going to be okay. Kids get sick." He said as he noticed that she was wiping tears from her eyes.

"I know." She said as she wiped a few more tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. "It's the first time he's been really sick though. He's so helpless and not himself. He was whining and crying the entire time he was in the bath. The kid didn't even cry when he burned the side of his arm while welding with me. I know you're a good doctor and I know he's going to be fine, I just can't sleep and I don't know why I'm crying." She said as she leaned over to put her head on Toby's shoulder.

He had an arm around her. "I know sweetheart, but he'll be better in a few days. Kids get sick. I know it's hard to watch, but he's going to be fine. You're his mom, and an amazing one at that. You love him, he's our son. He's your baby, you tell him all the time. It's perfectly normal to be concerned and worried. Most first time parents get like this about their babies the first few times they get sick. We just don't have a baby, we have a 3 year old genius who doesn't cry often."

"Sweetheart? Since when do you call me sweetheart? You never call me that. Babe I'm used to, but sweetheart?" she asked with a small smile.

"That's what you picked up on out of all that? And sorry, it slipped." He said with a smile.

"I don't mind." she said with a small smile again.

"Good to know! Although I'll probably stick to babe." He grinned.

Happy rolled her eyes.

 **-The next day-**

They both stayed home, Walter knew to call them if anything came up and they were needed at work.

Lucas' fever went down a bit by dinner time. He still had a fever but it was down to 100. He slept almost all day. They checked in on him every hour or so. Toby made sure to administer medication as needed, and try hard to keep him hydrated. In the afternoon he tried to get him to eat some saltines, which was followed by more vomiting. They gave Luke another bath and did anything possible to keep his fever from rising again.

The Next day, Lucas woke up feeling better. His temperature was pretty much back to normal, he was still a bit off and not as outgoing as usual but much better. He was able to keep some toast down, which was a good sign. They all stayed home again to make sure he was in the clear before bringing him out again.


	16. Toby's late night

***Mentions of gambling.***

Happy got up in the middle of the night to go to the washroom and noticed that Toby wasn't in bed.

She decided to look around the house for him. She eventually found him sitting on the floor across from Lucas' bed.

"Hey." She whispered "What are you doing here?"

She took a seat next to him on the floor. The door was left open a bit, so the light from the hallways was shining through it.

"He's so great." He whispered, putting a hand on her knee.

"I know." She said a little confused "But why are you here at 3:45am?"

"I woke up over an hour ago, and for some reason I just wanted to gamble. It just kind of hit me like a ton of bricks." He said calmly starring at his sleeping son.

She nodded and started to play with his fingers.

"It hits me sometimes, and I don't know why. It hasn't in a really long time though. I guess I had a dream about it or something at work triggered it from my subconscious." He continued slowly.

He looked away from Lucas for a moment and watched her play with his fingers. "I was itching to go out. I was trying to stop myself. I've been really good. I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I came in here 'cause I heard him. Did you notice he talks in his sleep? I just sat here watching him, and haven't left since." He said looking over to Lucas again. "He clams me. When he's around, I don't think about gambling at all. When I'm thinking about him, I want to be the best version of myself for him, he deserves that. He keeps me from my addictions. He has no idea how much he's impacted my life." He said looking back at Happy with a small smile.

"He's good for you, both of us really. I'm glad you've found something that helps you. This kid is our entire world. He doesn't know how good he's been for us. One day we'll tell him about everything. We'll tell him about how my mom died and dad left me for a while, how I ended up with Scorpion. We'll tell him about your mom's mental health, your addictions and how Walter found you. One day we're going to have to tell him about his birth parents and their stories." Said Happy.

"One day." Agreed Toby. "But for now, let's enjoy the 4 year old we have. He's going to grow up so fast. We're going to let him be a child as long as we can. We let him do foolish things and we let him act like a kid, because he needs that. He deserves the best."

Happy put her head on Toby's arm still playing with his hand "He definitely does. We're giving him that." She smiled. "Can we go back to bed now, or do you need to stay here a bit longer?" She asked looking up at him.

"You can go to bed, I'm going to stay here for a while." He said

"I'll stay with you as long as you need to be here." She smiled and he kissed the top of her head. "Besides that bed's really big for one person." She smiled again

"I love my wife." he smiled, put his arm around her and pulled her closer. She smiled but he didn't see it.

Lucas woke up the next morning to find his parents both asleep on the floor of his room together. He was confused at first and then proceeded to throw pillows at them until they got up. When he asked why they were sleeping on the floor, they didn't really know what to tell him so Toby made a joke about missing him so much and then changed the subject quickly.


	17. 1 year

***This isn't the most realistic, or probable series of events. I started writing and this is just kind of where it ended up. But then again, Scorpion has a habit of going a little bit unrealistic, so I can too, right? There's more notes at the bottom, I don't want to spoil the story***

It was a calm and early Saturday morning. Toby was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, he made excellent waffles. Happy was watching him from the other side of the island counter in their kitchen while sipping on coffee.

Lucas woke up and joined them. He sat on the chair next to Happy, still in his P.J's.

"Good morning sleepy head." Said Toby as he pulled waffle out of the waffle iron.

"Good morning buddy." Said Happy as she ruffled his hair.

He said good morning to both of them and rubbed his eyes again.

"Do you know what today is?" Said Happy with a smile.

"Saturday?" he asked.

"Yes, but something else." Replied Happy.

Lucas thought for a moment and then his eyes opened a bit wider "1 year momma!" He smiled at her

"Yep! One year ago today we brought you home for the first time." She smiled at him then glanced at Toby who was also looking at them with a smile.

"One year ago today we became a family. Time has gone by so fast! So much has changed in a year." Said Toby as he reached over to pull out another waffle. and slide it towards Lucas.

"I got the best mom and dad ever, and we had pizza that night." Said Lucas as he reached over to pull his plate closer to him. "Then we met the others at the garage the next day."

They both nodded in agreement.

"Let's do something fun today, to celebrate." Said Toby. "I'm thinking Disney? Park opens in an hour and a half." He glanced at Happy to see her reaction. They hadn't talked about it, but he was sure she'd be alright with it.

"Really?" his eyes lit up and he sat up straight.

"If mommy's okay with it." Said Toby as he looked over at Happy who's mouth was still full.

"Please can we go mom?" He asked.

She shot a glance at Toby, and looked back at Lucas "Finish your breakfast, go get dressed and we'll head out." She smiled at him.

He was so excited he finished his food faster than she thought possible and was ready to leave in 15 minutes. They both headed to their room to get dressed while Lucas patiently waited in the living room.

"You know Disney wasn't the smartest idea. You should have talked to me about it first." She said while she pulled on some jeans.

"Why not? And you could have said no." He said changing out of his plaid P.J bottoms.

She rolled her eyes, "No I couldn't and you knew that. He's going to be too small for half the rides. I don't even think they let 3 year olds on rides."

"I checked online, he's going to be fine for most. I got discounted tickets. Besides, he's going to be more excited to see the characters and the magic of Disney. He gets to spend the day with us, have our undivided attention and just be a 3 year old kid." Said Toby as he pulled a shirt over his head and put a jacket on.

"Kay, fine. Talk to me about it first next time?" She asked as she pulled a shirt and a jacket on.

"I'm sorry. I promise I will." He said as he pulled her in for a quick kiss.

"One year." He smiled.

"One year." She smiled back, and they headed out of their room to meet a patiently waiting Lucas in the living room.

 **-At the park-**

Happy and Toby were on either side of Lucas holding his hands.

Lucas was pointing out all of the characters he knew, and any random facts he knew about the movies they were in.

They got to one of the first rides all 3 of them got into the small cart and did the ride together. Lucas had the time of his life on the kiddie ride. Toby and Happy enjoyed it, they weren't fans of adult roller coasters, but this one was fine. Toby got sick on big rides, he sometimes blacked out due to the G-force. He wasn't a fan of that happening so he avoided big rides. Happy just didn't care for them. She was concerned about what could go structurally wrong with the big ones. The smaller ones she had less concerns for since the speeds were decreased, they weren't as high and they had less steep turns.

They moved on to the next ride which was slightly bigger. They were on their 5th ride when Toby went to line up with Lucas. Happy had decided to sit this one out, since it was a two person cart. The boy all of a sudden didn't want to do the ride anymore.

"I want to talk to mommy!" he said as he pulled Toby's hand

"We're almost up, buddy, can't it wait till after the ride?" he asked looking down at the boy.

"I'm not going on it. I want to talk to mom!" he said as he tried to break free from Toby's hand.

Toby picked him up and brought him to Happy, losing their place in line.

"Mommy mommy!" he said as he reached out for her to hold him.

"What's wrong baby?" She looked from Lucas to Toby confused "Why aren't you in line?"

Lucas looked at her "The ride is going to break. It's not structurally safe. Look at those pieces, and the incline. That bolt is loose and the car rattles and slips off the track a little bit. I'm not doing it. Tell someone mommy, people can get hurt."

She followed his finger to where he was pointing and looked at what he was telling her to. She analyzed the situation for a moment.

"He's right." She said looking over at Toby. "Go find someone in charge, Lucas and I will go shut the ride down, and talk to the operators. Someone must have forgotten to do their checks this morning."

Happy and Lucas raced over and stopped the operators from operating the ride again. When she told them she worked for Homeland, they listened to her. Toby arrived with a director after also using his affiliation with Homeland to get the right people.

"Your ride isn't safe. The bolts are loose, the cart sides off the tracks. Either you're intentionally risking a serious accident and lawsuits, or your structural engineer is slacking off. This needs to be fixed. You'd better check the other rides this engineer was in charge of" she said informing the director of what had happened. "I'd also fire her, or him." Said Happy as she picked up Lucas.

"Thank you so much for informing us of this mishap. We will deal with it accordingly. Stop by my office on your way out of the park please. I will inform you of the procedures we have taken to fix it. I'd also like your assistance in filling out some paperwork regarding it, but I don't want to take up your day." Said the man in a fancy suit.

They nodded in agreement. As they walked away from the ride, Toby took Lucas from Happy's arms.

"That was amazing kid! You probably saved a few lives just then. You saved the park millions of dollars in lawsuits. You saved the day, little man! Good job, I'm so proud of you!" Said Toby as he hugged his son tighter and kissed his head.

"Yeah buddy, that was incredible. I hadn't even looked at the structural integrity of this ride. You saved the day genius!" she smiled at him and put her hand on his back.

"Thanks! The rides make me a little nervous so looking at the integrity of them while I'm in line helps me know they're safe. That one didn't look safe. I knew mommy would understand when I told her. I knew you would stop people from getting hurt. You always do. I wanted to save people like you guys do at work." He smiled. "Can we do other stuff and no more rides today?" He asked

Happy and Toby both laughed, "Sure buddy, no problem." Said Toby.

"Can we go see Mickey again and get some food and look at the moving theaters?" he asked excitedly. He didn't really care about the rides anymore he was just happy he had saved the day.

"Whatever you want buddy." Said Toby as he put him down and held his hand.

They spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out around the park. They let Lucas have dessert for lunch. He had asked as a joke, but Toby let him anyways.

 **In the office**

Before they left the park they stopped by the head office and asked for the director, after a few minutes of explaining who they were they were let in to see him.

"Hello again." He said in a loud voice.

"I don't think I formally introduced myself, I'm Jack Wilson."

"Dr. Toby Curtis." He said as she shook his hand. "This is my wife, Happy and our son Lucas." He gestured to them, Happy was standing next to Toby with Lucas in her arm on the other side.

"How exactly did you figure out the ride was broken?" he asked curiously.

Toby spoke up. "I was in line with Lucas, he was analyzing the structural integrity of the ride, he was nervous about it and demanded we go speak with Happy. She's an engineer. She agreed with him that it wasn't safe, so I found you, and they shut down the ride." He said looking over at Happy reassuringly.

"You're telling me this toddler figured it out?" said Mr. Wilson.

"He's a genius. We all are." Said Toby reading a lot of disbelief from Mr. Wilson. He knew he had to convince him. "I'm a Harvard trained psychiatrist with an IQ of over 170, but I'm a behaviourist for Scorpion, we're independent contractors for Homeland. Happy's a mechanical engineer with an IQ of 184 who also works for Scorpion. Lucas here, as far as we can tell has an IQ of 182."

"That's astounding." Said Mr. Wilson.

They all smiled at him.

"Lucas, what do you like to do for fun?" he asked looking at the boy.

"I build robots with my mom, I like to read books and I like doing my cousins homework with him." He said with a shy smile and a low voice.

The man smiled at Lucas and leaned back against his desk,

"How would you guys like season passes for the rest of your lives?" Asked Mr. Wilson.

Lucas' eyes lit up and he looked at Happy.

"I think he'd like that. We all would." Said Toby.

"I don't know how else we can ever repay you. You saved lives, millions of dollars in lawsuits and revenue. We're also willing to give you an account with us, anything you buy at the park will be covered by us." Said Mr. Wilson.

"That would be great, thank you so much. Any chance we could get a discount for the rest of Scorpion to come sometime?" Said Toby.

"Toby!" said happy between her teeth with a look that could kill.

"What? I'm just asking for the rest of the team" he shot back at her.

Mr. Wilson laughed. "Just put them on your account when they come, and we'll cover it." He said with a smile.

"Thank you so much." Said Happy.

"Thank you Mr. Wilson." Said Lucas as Happy put him down.

"No, thank you. Fill out these forms and hand them in to my receptionist and we'll get you your passes and account set up by tomorrow." Said Mr. Wilson as they started to walk out of the room.

They all said bye to him. Lucas walked out of the room followed by Toby. As Happy turned to close the door, Mr. Wilson spoke up.

"Happy, we'd love to have you and Lucas as engineers on site, as independent contractors of course. A couple of times a year, checking out our designs for new rides and buildings, if you're interested." He asked.

"I'm happy at Scorpion, but I would definitely be willing to be an independent contractor for you as well. Lucas would love the opportunity too." She smiled.

"Perfect, we'll be in touch."

He said as Happy agreed, thanked him again and closed the door.

 **-Back at home-**

They were all sitting down at the table eating pizza. It's what Lucas wanted.

"We get to go to Disney whenever we want now, AND we get to help them design their rides and check them for safety. This is so awesome!" Said Lucas as he took another bite of his pizza.

"Yep, Mr. Wilson said that he would call us whenever they had plans for new buildings or rides." Said Happy.

Toby was silent for a while just staring at Lucas with a small smile forming on his face.

"What daddy?" Said Lucas with a small grin on his face with a little bit of pizza sauce on his chin.

"You're just so amazing." He smiled at his son.

Happy put her hand on Toby's shoulder. "He is." And she looked over at Lucas, who looked back at them with a smile.

 **-A little while later-**

Toby and Happy where in bed together just talking about the crazy day they had just had.

"One year, minus one day ago, we had no idea Lucas was about to come into our lives. We were just a couple waiting for a kid. We had no idea we were getting him. We had no idea our lives were about to get infinitely better and turned upside down by that little guy." Said Toby laying on his side looking at Happy.

"I know, it's crazy much things have changed in the last year. 366 days ago, I wouldn't have imagined us being here right now with him celebrating one year since his adoption." Said Happy laying on her back in bed looking over at Toby.

"He's changed so much since the first day. He's funny, smart and the sweetest kid ever. He was so scared that we were going to hurt him, or that we'd bring him back. Now he's so comfortable with us, his confidence has gone up and he's not afraid to show us his smart side...or his little bit of sassy attitude sometimes." Said Toby

"He saved lives today. He knew there was a problem and he wanted to fix it. I can't believe that. He's amazing. I can't believe how fast this year's gone by and how much he's grown up. I can't imagine my life without him. I don't think I've ever loved someone as much as I love him." Said Happy

"Oh I see how it is." Said Toby in a dramatic tone with a smirk.

"It's a different kind of love, dummy." She said as she rolled her eyes.

"I know, Hap. But you're right. He is amazing in every way. I'm so proud of him for everything he's done and how far he's come in the last year. I still can't believe he's ours and how incredible he is." Said Toby with a smile. "We've made it one year as parents. We haven't messed him up. Who'd have thought two people like us would be successfully raising a child?" he asked rhetorically.

He placed his arm across Happy and leaned in closer. "I don't feel the urge to gamble or go back to who I was. That one time I did, but it passed quickly, he calms me. This year, you've been happier than I've ever seen, you've been less closed off too. We may have saved him, but he also saved us." He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"I never realized how much I needed him - we needed him. One year and so many more to come."

Toby nodded in agreement and kissed her softly once more.

"One year." He repeated. "I'm so proud of all of us." He said kissing her again.

 ***Like I said, it's probably not the most realistic of stories, I highly doubt rides at a high profile place like Disney would let things like that happen. I know in all reality they do checks often, and the rides are safe.**  
 **In case you're wondering, passing out from the G-Force is a real thing...I learned the hard way.***


	18. Happy's tough night

***WARNING: Talks of sexual abuse, child abuse, general abuse. Briefly mentioning sex trafficking. But also comfort and fluff at the end.  
Also, I'm really not good at writing about cases..so sorry if it doesn't make much sense, it's not the important part of the story. **

They got a call at 6am from Cabe. There was a case that required their attention, he ordered them all to be at the garage in half an hour.

They rolled out of bed, they had a routine figured out, Happy called her dad, and gathered all of their stuff, Toby got Lucas up and dressed quickly, and got Lucas into the car. It took them 10 minutes to get out the door in a rush.

They dropped Lucas off and headed to the garage.

They met the rest of the team there and Cabe informed them of their case.

It was a complicated case, it involved many people and many different aspects. There were women being held captive and being forced into the sex trade industry, they were being bought and sold on the dark web, something Walter and Sylvester were good at navigating. There were also websites which were fronts for the human trafficking that had stolen credit card information and sold it online. The encryption was very advanced. It was complex web of intertwined illegal activities. The FBI had been trying to shut it down, but they weren't very good at the dark web and all it entailed. They needed Scorpion to help them.

It was a long and strenuous case. Both emotionally, mentally and physically.

Once the case was done, Happy and Toby headed to pick up Lucas. He knew that after a case they always had pizza because Toby and Happy didn't feel like cooking, or doing much of anything. He always tried to behave after they went on a case, he asked about the small details of the case, or if they had done anything really cool. This case was a very touchy subject so they didn't give him any real details other than the bit of crazy driving Happy had to do.

Lucas went to bed not long after dinner, they had gotten home pretty late.

Toby and Happy went straight to bed too, they were exhausted.

They both fell asleep almost instantly.

At almost 3am, Toby woke up to the sound of Happy crying.

He rolled over to check on her "Are you oaky?" he asked

He realized she was crying in her sleep and having a nightmare. He knew he should wake her up before it got too bad, or she started screaming. That had happened once before and he didn't want that again.

She was almost in the fetal position, he put a hand on her shoulder "Babe, wake up, you're having a nightmare, please wake up Happy, please" he said softly as he rubbed her shoulder.

She rolled over quickly and jolted up in bed. She still had tears running down her face but her breathing was uneven and panicked. He removed his hand from her shoulder quickly and was holding them up, and talking calmly.

"Happy, you're okay, it's just me, Toby. You're okay, see?" he turned on the lamp on his side of the bed so they could see.

It took Happy a minute to realize where she was, get herself situated, and her breathing steadied. Once she had snapped out of her nightmare she leaned over and hugged Toby still crying again, but softer and more controlled.

He held her close and tight "You're okay. You're safe here, okay. You're safe. It's okay."

He continued to comfort her for over half an hour. Eventually her tears slowed and her crying had almost stopped, she was still gripping his shirt tightly.

He continued to hold her close "Do you want to talk about it? Was it the case?"

She stayed quiet for a few minutes while she stopped her tears and controlled her breathing. She spoke up "The case brought up some stuff. I'm fine though." She said softly, she was still gripping his shirt tightly.

"Babe, you're not fine. Talk to me, please." He said softly.

She stayed quiet for a few more minutes while she gathered her thoughts and collected herself and figured out what she wanted to tell him, if she wanted to tell him.

"My last foster home when I was 15 was the worst. The parents were abusive. Their son was 18, he lived at home. He…he…" she started to tear up again.

Toby assumed what came next and he braced himself. He couldn't bear the thought of Happy in a bad situation. He couldn't bear the thought of her being abused in any way. He always felt so hurt when he found out parts of her past. He was torn between wanting to kill the people who had hurt her, and wanting to cry along with her.

"He took advantage of me…many times. He was bigger than I was. He knew what he was doing and there was just no way for me to stop it." She stopped again to compose herself.

"I tried to fight back one night, his dad walked in because of the noise and somehow I ended up getting beat again. Worse than any other time. It happened so fast, I don't remember much. I woke up alone in the hospital the next day." She pressed her face against Toby's chest again and wiped the tears from her face.

"I'm so sorry. That's awful." He hugged her as tight as he could, and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry. You're safe now, I won't let anything happen to you ever again. I love you. You're safe."

He was trying not to go into shrink mode, because that's not what she needed. She needed her husband and best friend to comfort her. She would tell him things on her own terms. It wasn't something he wanted to press. He never did. She told him bits and pieces over the years and he's drawn his own conclusions for certain things. He also remembered everything she's told him. He'd pieced things together.

"The women on the case were stuck in a bad situation, stuff was happening against their will. I didn't have it as bad as them, but it brought memories up, when that happens I sometimes get flashback nightmares. On a regular day it doesn't even cross my mind. But this case was a lot, and my flashbacks were so vivid." She said softly looking up at him with her head still on his chest. She still had some tears in her eyes.

"I know, it's okay. You're alright now. I love you. I'm right here." He said while rubbing his hand on her back.

He felt like he needed to reassure her that he loved her, and that he wasn't going anywhere.

"After I got out of the hospital, I went off on my own. I couldn't even look men in the eye for a while, I worked really hard to be able to be comfortable around them again, and to trust people in general. I knew it wasn't everyone who would hurt me, but the fear was still there." She said as she sat up and brushed her hand through her hair. She wiped away a few tears that had formed.

"It took a while for me to be okay with physical contact from anyone of any kind. I used to flinch a lot. I'm in a good place now though, I even enjoy the closeness...especially with you." She let out a tiny smile.

He gave her a small kind smile back "That's good. I'm glad you're in a good place, you've worked through it really well. I'm so proud of you. You've come a long way." He said as he put a hand on her thigh.

"It took a lot of work. I'm better now. It's a part of my past. I've moved passed it. You helped me with that without even realizing it." she said. She brushed her hands through her hair again -It was something she did when she didn't know what to do with her hands and she was slightly nervous, usually before she said something sentimental. It was something Toby had picked up on over the years.

"I've never felt so safe with anyone in my life. I've never felt so secure. I trust you so much, doc. I know you won't hurt me in any way. I know you won't force me do anything I don't want to do even if it's something stupid like telling me to wear a jacket when it's cold out. I know you won't leave me and that you're always going to be there if I need or want you. You're patient and understanding. You're so good with me Toby, no one has ever been this good to me in my life. I never wanted a family, I was scared of that, but with you I did and now we're married and we have a son. You're my safe place, Toby." Said Happy as she grabbed his fingers from her thigh and started to play with them, letting out a small smile.

He smiled at her with amazement in his eyes. She never ceased to surprise him.

"You have no idea how much it means to me, how much you mean to me. You're amazing, you know that? Happy, you make me the best person I could ever be. You keep me from my addictions, you've given me the chance to be a dad, and you accept me despite my past. You never gave up on me, you've changed my life in countless ways, Happy Quinn-Curtis, I wouldn't want this life with anyone else." He said as he pulled her on to him again and kissed her.

They laid there for a while intertwined in each other.

After a few moments she spoke up again.

"I'm not that 15 year old kid anymore. I'm not the troubled and misunderstood foster care genius kid I was back then. I was so broken and hurt in every sense imaginable. When I was alone for a while and then with Scorpion. I worked really hard to fix myself. I'm proud of where I've ended up. I'm married to my best friend who's an incredible man, we have a wonderful son, I'm a mother, I have a good stable job, I have friends and a family, I even got my dad back in my life after 25 years. 15 year old me would never have imagined how amazing my life would turn out. I'm not scared, or hurting anymore, it's in the past. I'm happy now."

She was still laying on top of him, and he was hugging her tightly. She rolled off of him, but was still curled up to him with her hand on his chest. She was drawing patterns with her fingers.

She spoke up again. "Thank you. For everything. I know I'm not easy sometimes, but thank you...for not giving up on me."

He kissed her head softly. "I'd never give up on you. You're my everything."

They were still holding each other, Happy never wanted to let him go. "Thank you for calming me down."

"Always." He said with a smile as he ran his hand over her hair. "I'll always be here."

"I know." She smiled. She knew he would be. He was her safe place.


	19. First case

***I'm not good at writing cases with loads of details...***

Everyone was at the garage hanging out when Cabe walked in telling them they had a case.

They had to leave in a hurry and didn't have time to bring Lucas to Patrick's garage. They would have, but Ralph was old enough to babysit, at almost 16. Lucas wanted to stay behind with Ralph and do some homework. They all agreed to let Ralph babysit Lucas and Isabelle. Ralph was instructed to call Patrick if Lucas and Isabelle became too much to handle and he needed help. They didn't foresee any problems, Lucas was a good kid and Isabelle was fairly easy as well.

The rest of the team left in a hurry.

"Be safe!" Said Lucas and Ralph simultaneously as they all headed for the cars.

Isabelle was sleeping, Ralph was working on a chemistry project with chemicals and Lucas knew to stay back so he was working on the finishing touches of his robot puppy.

 **MEANWHILE**

The team was on a mission to retrieve a piece of software that had been stolen from a huge technology investment corporation. It had sensitive information, new technology in development and also company financial records. If it got into the wrong hands it could render the business bankrupt within days.

They had located the software. The only problem was that its building was heavily guarded, and they needed to find a way in and out without tripping the alarm systems or alarming the guards.

Happy and Walter had found a way in to the building via the roof, while Sylvester tried to disarm the alarm systems from the computer in the van. wile helping them dodge security guards by watching some camera feeds.

 **MEANWHILE**

Lucas had seen on the news what was going on. It was only about 5 blocks from the garage. He snuck out while Ralph was trying to calm Isabelle who had just woken up.

He grabbed his bike and made his way to the site. He found Sylvester in the van.

"Hi uncle Sly." He said as he hopped up into the van with a struggle.

"LUCAS! What are you doing here? How did you get here? It's not safe for you!" he said quickly as Luke slammed the door.

"I saw on the news. I figured out how they can get in faster. Through the side there's a ventilation system. You wouldn't need to worry about alarms, only 2. It's safer. My mom and Walter are small enough to fit through it." He said smiling.

"Okay. They're already inside though. It's better if we keep doing what we're doing. Can you go sit in the front of the van please? I need total concentration for this." Asked Sylvester.

Lucas obliged. Instead of getting out of the van to walk around to the front, he headed out to the ventilation system. He thought maybe he could get there faster. Everyone was watching the exits, no one would see him.

 **MEANWHILE.**

Walter and Happy were making their way through the floors trying not to trip alarms or alarm any guards.

Once they had made it down to the 4th floor, they noticed something off.

"Sly, the software is on the next floor down right?" Asked Happy through the coms.

"Yeah, left corner in a locked room. Why?" responded Sylvester slightly confused. They already knew that information.

"How many guards are on the floor and what are they doing? I can hear noise under us." Said Walter quickly.

"You shouldn't hear noise, there are 2, and they're just sitting outside the room" he responded.

Happy and Walter were confused as to where the slight shuffling sound came from.

"It's coming from the vents." Stated Happy factually.

Sly turned around to see if Lucas was still sitting in the front seat. He wasn't there.

He knew it was because Lucas had found a way in and wanted to help. He had to stop himself from panicking. He turned to Cabe who had just shown up with Toby.

"We have a big big problem." He said with a slightly shaky voice.

"What is it?" Asked Cabe.

Sylvester's eyes shifted from Toby to Cabe and back again as he shut his com off so Happy couldn't hear.

"Lucas is inside the building. He's in the vent system, 1 floor below Walter and Happy."

Toby's eyes widened. And he froze. He was never a fan of Happy putting herself at risk, but it was their job and he was very confident in her abilities, she never did anything uncalculated. Lucas on the other hand was going to send him into a panic, he was 4 years old and hadn't realized all the implications.

"How the hell did my son get in that building?" He said through his teeth trying to stay calm.

"He showed up here, he got away from the garage. I told him to stay in the front of the van. I guess when he got out, I was busy and I didn't notice. I'm so sorry Toby." Sylvester stammered.

"Do not tell Happy he's inside there, got it? She'll freak. And it could jeopardize the mission. I'm going in after him." Said Toby as he went to walk off towards the ventilation system entrance that Luke had used.

 **MEANWHILE**

Walter had taken down the two guards with a tazer. He and Happy could enter the room since Sly had deactivated the cameras and alarm systems. Just as they entered the room they heard more shuffling in the vent system above them.

"Sly what is that noise?" Asked Walter impatiently.

"I'm not sure. Just get out as soon as you can." Sylvester lied.

A guard from another floor had heard some commotion from the vent system and had made his way down to the software room.

"Guys, a guard's coming. Hide! The vents are safe. You can get out through them. Hurry up!" Said Sylvester as he watched the guard approach through the cameras.

Walter and Happy made their way into the ventilation system in the roof of the room. As they were crawling out they saw the back of Toby's legs in one of the side vents. Happy was confused as to why he was there but they didn't have time for questions.

Just then from one of the other side vents she caught a glimpse of Lucas. She froze. And starred at him. She had never given him a look that could kill before. She didn't say anything. She gestured for him to come out in front of her -but behind Walter- so they could make their way out of the vent. She realized that he must have gone in on his own and Toby was in there to get him out. She realized that that's what the shuffling sound must have been.

Once they got out of the vent Walter fell to the ground first, Lucas fell next and Walter caught him and put him down. It was only about a 3 foot drop. Followed by Happy, and a few minutes later, Toby.

Happy grabbed his shoulders and crouched down to his level "What the hell were you doing? You could have gotten yourself killed! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" She was holding him tightly and raising her voice. It was something she had never done before.

She then pulled him into the tightest hug she possibly could.

He pulled away "I found a faster way. It was safer." He said calmly.

"Don't ever do that again. You understand? You could have-" She had continued to talk sternly at him. When Toby fell out of the vent and made his way to Lucas in a hurry.

He hugged him tightly.

"Dude! What were you thinking? You scared us half to death. Don't ever do anything like that again. You know better than that. You could have gotten yourself killed, you could have gotten hurt, and you could have made a mess of the mission. We can't have a kid trying to do our jobs. It's not safe." He said sternly and slightly loudly.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to help" he said putting his head down.

"Next time, do not leave the garage. There's a reason we leave you there or with grandpa, because those are safe places. If you see anything on the news trust that we are doing the best thing possible. We know our jobs. There's a reason we did things the way we did." Said Toby still holding onto the boy's shoulders.

"Okay" He said softly.

Happy pulled him into another big hug.

 **Back at the garage**

They headed back to the garage with the rest of the team. Happy and Toby were both furious at the entire situation. They were mad at Lucas for going to the scene, sneaking away from the garage and not staying with Sylvester. They were mad that Sylvester hadn't checked on him or stopped him from going inside. They were mad at Ralph for letting Lucas get away. They knew rationally that it wasn't anyone in particular's fault. The entire situation had scared them both so much, they could have lost their son.

When Toby walked into the garage first Ralph ran up to him.

"Toby, I'm so sorry, I have no idea where Luke went he just-"

Toby cut him off "It's okay. We have him."

Ralph sighed in relief.

"How did he get away? Were you not keeping an eye on him?" Asked Toby sternly. He knew it wasn't Ralph's fault. He knew Lucas had a mind of his own and if he wanted to leave, he was going to find a way.

"I was, but Isabelle started crying and she wouldn't let up. I yelled for Luke to bring me a diaper so I could change her to see if that was the problem, but he never answered and I started looking for him. I didn't want to call you guys and ruin the case or something, so I called Cabe and my mom, but no one was answering their phones." Said Ralph trying to explain himself as fast as possible.

Toby explained that he understood. He knew how difficult it could be. He wasn't mad at Ralph, just mad at the situation that had occurred.

 **MEANWHILE**

Happy was grilling Sylvester. She was trying to not lay into him too badly, she knew it wasn't his fault. She knew Lucas would have found another way to get into that building if he really wanted to.

"Happy, I told you, I thought he had went to the front of the van. I heard the door slam. He tricked me. I'm sorry. I should have checked, but I was busy trying to disarm the cameras." He said as he was sitting at his desk looking up at Happy standing across from him with her arms crossed.

She sighed. She knew it wasn't his fault.

After a while Toby and Happy met up in the kitchen of the garage.

"We really need to talk to him rationally about not doing that again. Our panicked warnings earlier probably aren't enough." Said Toby as he poured himself some juice.

Happy agreed with him and they decided to give themselves time to cool down a little bit more before talking to him. Happy was still really upset about what had happened. She had never been so afraid for his life.

 **In the car**

On the drive home Toby decided to bring it up.

"Lucas, I know you meant well by trying to help today, but you can't ever do that again. Do you understand that?" He said calmly looking at the boy through the rear view mirror as Happy was driving.

"Yes. I'm sorry daddy. I thought I could do it safe enough." He said quietly.

"I know, but you need to trust us. It's our job to do this kind of stuff, not yours. Your job is to stay safe so we have something great to come home to. When you see stuff on the news know that we've got it covered. The greatest minds on the planet are working together to fix the problem." Toby continued

Happy decided to jump in "When we bring you somewhere while we're on a case, you are to stay there until someone from Scorpion, or grandpa picks you up, got it? Weather its grandpas, the garage with Ralph or school, you stay with the designated people. You scared us Lucas, it was dangerous and so many things could have happened. I had no idea you were there until I saw you in the vent." Happy said sternly.

"I'm sorry momma. I won't ever do it again. I promise. I don't want to scare you guys like that again, I didn't like seeing you scared." Said Lucas calmly as he looked away from their stares in the mirror.

"We love, and that's why we don't want you to be there. It's dangerous and we never want to put you in harm's way, alright." Said Toby as he went to open the door for Lucas when they got home. They still had the child locks on the doors, there was no need for them, but it was something they thought they should keep on anyways.

They got home and had dinner. They all went to bed fairly early, it had been a very long day for all of them.

 **Later that night**

Once Toby and Happy were in bed Happy spoke up

"We could have lost him today. I'm so happy he's okay and safe, but I'm so mad. He knows better. I don't know what he was thinking."

Toby placed an arm over her "Remember when Ralph did something like that when he was younger? Probably similar reasons. I'm just glad it wasn't as dangerous as what Ralph did."

"Yeah, but still, I just can't imagine what could have gone wrong. He could have died, Toby." She said softly. "I can't imagine something happening to him. I don't ever want to lose him. I love him more than anything."

"I know. He's my everything. I was so scared when Sly told me he was in that building. Cabe tried to hold be from going but I didn't even care, I went in after him." Said Toby.

Just then they heard a small knock on the door.

They both sat up and told him to come in. He jumped on the bed between them.

"I'm sorry I scared you momma." He said as he gave her a big hug.

"Alright, but don't do it again." She said.

"Daddy, I'm sorry." He said as he turned to give him a big hug as well.

"It's alright buddy, don't do it again, alright?"

Lucas nodded in agreement.

"Baby, we love you and we don't want you to get hurt. We don't want to lose you. I'm sorry for yelling at you, I was scared." Said Happy as she ran her fingers through the boy's hair.

"I know." He said.

"You scared us, and we raised our voices because we never want to lose you kid, you're pretty great." Said Toby with a smile.

"I know." Said Lucas with a grin."I just wanted to say sorry again. I'm going to bed, good night. Love you." He said as he hopped off the bed and went to his room.

They both said they loved him before he shut the door and headed to his room.

Happy and Toby looked at each other and let out a sigh.

"I don't think he's ever going to do that again." Said Toby as he got himself comfortable in bed again.

"I sure as hell hope not. I've been strapped to a bomb, and I wasn't as scared as I was when I saw him in that vent." She said as she also rolled over to get comfortable again.

 **Is anyone even still reading this?**


	20. Guys day & girls day

Everyone was at the garage, it was a rainy day and there wasn't much to do but work on individual projects.

Once Paige got all caught up with her work she decided to pay a visit to Happy, who was welding in her area.

"Hey" She said standing in front of Happy's bench.

"Can I help you?" replied Happy lifting her welding mask.

"I'm done all my paperwork, Isabelle's sleeping, and Ralph's still in school." She said. She was just stating facts.

"Right." Replied Happy slightly confused.

"So, since I'm not busy, and you're not working on anything for a case, I was wondering if you wanted to come shopping with me today! I want to go looking for a wedding dress, colours, themes, ideas. It'll be fun!" she said with a smile excitedly.

"I hate shopping." Replied Happy.

"I know that. But it could be fun! We can do lunch, try on some dresses? If you don't help me pick out the bridesmaid dresses, I'll pick them myself." Replied Paige with a sly grin.

Happy knew there was no winning this argument. She also knew that Paige would make sure her bridesmaid dress would be something she hated- probably pink and frilly just to spite her for not helping.

Happy reluctantly agreed and the two went over to find Toby and Walter and inform them of their plans for the day.

"Alright! Guys day!" said Toy as he put out his hand so Lucas could give him a high five. "I mean, plus Isabelle. I assume you're not taking her with you." He checked to make sure his facts were correct.

Paige agreed. After gathering their things, Happy and Paige set out for their day of shopping.

 **A little while later**

At the garage, the guys were having a fun time individually. Isabelle was still sleeping, Lucas was wiring some robots, Sylvester was lost in the numbers and Walter was doing some research.

"Daddy, can we do something today?" Asked Lucas as he approached Toby's desk.

"What do you want to do?" Asked Toby as he removed his legs from his desk and putting his book down.

"Something fun. Can we bake and cook? Or maybe build a fort and watch movies?" he asked shyly.

"That sounds like a great idea my man." Said Toby as he got up from his chair "Do you want Walter and uncle Sly to help out too?" he asked.

"Yeah, they can help. But mostly you and me though." He said.

Toby understood the point he was trying to make. Lucas wanted to bond with Toby the way he was able to with Happy over cars and robotics and almost anything else.

"What do you want to cook? We'll have to go to the store and pick up some ingredients." Said Toby as he went to find a notepad.

Lucas followed him around "Can we make a cake? And can we have waffles for lunch? You make good waffles."

Toby scribbled out a list of ingredients they would need to pick up. And they headed out to the store.

 **After the store**.

Once they got back, Isabelle was awake and Walter was playing with her on the carpet. He was trying to get her to walk and hold herself up since she was almost a year old.

Toby and Lucas got themselves situated in the kitchen.

"Alright, we'll start with the cake, and make the waffles while it's in the oven. Sound good?" He asked Lucas who was standing on a chair on the other side of the island.

Lucas agreed.

Toby was explaining all the steps and Lucas was doing a lot of the work, measuring the ingredients, trying to crack the eggs and mixing the batter.

Lucas was having a blast. This was exactly what he had wanted to do with his dad.

In between asking how to measure things and asking more about baking, he was asking other questions.

"Daddy, what were your parents like?" he asked innocently.

"Well buddy, my dad had addiction problems and wasn't around too much. My mom was sick. She had severe mental health problems." He responded. He figured it would be best not to go into too much detail.

"Why don't I know them? I know grandpa." He asked while dumping flour into the bowl.

"I haven't talked to my dad in a long time. My mom was really sick…she passed away a long time ago. " He responded. He didn't explain how his mother had taken her own life when he was in his early 20's and his dad disappeared after that.

"Oh. Do they know about me though? Did they know about momma?" He was trying desperately to figure out exactly what was going on. He knew about Happy's past, but he knew virtually nothing about Toby's past or family.

"No. They don't know any of that buddy. I wish they did, but my mom passed away before I even met your mom and I haven't heard from my dad in years." He responded as he watched him intently try to crack an egg.

Lucas looked up at him "I'm sorry they don't know, daddy. That's sad. They don't know how good you are at being a dad. They don't know how great momma is too. They don't know you save the world like superheroes." He let out a small smile.

A smile had made its way to Toby's face and he was looking at Lucas with such adoration in his eyes.

"I know, thanks buddy." He didn't manage to say much else.

"You're not like your dad. You're the best. You're always here." Said Lucas with confidence.

Toby smiled again "I try."

He loved that his son had so much confidence in him. He knew that Lucas had no idea about his addictions and his past, but he liked the faith his son had in him. It helped him.

They finished off the cake and then started on the waffles.

He let Lucas mix the ingredients again. While he instructed him on how things were done. Toby hovered like a hawk when it came time to put them in the waffle iron. He didn't want Luke to burn himself, he kept telling him to be careful. The boy knew how to weld, with very close supervision so Toby was confident he could poor mix into a waffle iron, but it didn't stop the concern.

"Can we put chocolate chips in this half of the batch?" Asked Lucas.

Toby pulled out a big bag of chocolate chips and handed it to him.

"Uh-oh" said Lucas before he started to laugh hysterically.

Toby smiled and shook his head. Lucas had accidentally pored way too many chocolate chips into the mix. The bag slipped and half of them slipped out.

"That's alright, we'll just save these ones for ourselves." He smiled

Toby had taken over the waffle iron and Lucas was watching patiently. He was sneaking chocolate when he thought Toby wasn't watching. He knew though.

Once they were done, Toby pulled the cake out of the oven and it was perfectly done.

They both sat down and ate their waffles together making more conversation.

"When did you and momma get married?" he asked before taking a sip of his milk.

"About 15 months before we got you." Toby responded. He was curious as to where this discussion was going.

"How long did you know her before that?" he asked curiously.

"We dated over 2 years, but we had been friends and working together for almost 4 before that. Why all the questions?" Toby asked before taking a bite of his waffle.

"I'm just curious. Is mom you best friend?"

"Of course she is. So are you." He responded with a smile.

"You love her lots, right?" Lucas asked as he stuffed more food in his mouth.

"Yep. More than anything." He responded. He didn't mind answering his questions. They had always said they would be honest and open with him about anything he wanted to know. Some things were better left at a "need to know" basis, but they tried.

"I can tell." Said Lucas with a small smile.

Toby looked at him confused "Oh really? You taking up psychology now?"

"I can tell because of how you smile at each other. How you always make sure she's okay. You always kiss eachother and say "I love you" before either of you leaves. How she said when she has nightmares you hold her and she feels safe. I know momma comes from bad homes like I did, but you make her safe, and you make me safe and that's love. Because you both make me feel safe and I love you guys and you love me. Right? See I listen when you talk daddy." He responded before he went off to play with Isabelle.

Toby sat there shocked and stunned at what Lucas had just said. He had no idea the boy had taken an interest in analyzing people. He had no idea how much attention he paid to them and how they acted around each other. He was smiling like a fool when Walter came by and grabbed a waffle and sat down where Lucas was sitting.

"Are you alright?" asked Walter as he started to eat his waffle.

"My son is amazing. He just explained love in the simplest way. My son listens to me, and pays attention to every single thing Happy and I do." He said still looking over at Lucas.

"He's a 4 year old genius. How could he possibly understand love? I didn't understand it until I was 32." Said Walter.

"He said that love is when you make people feel safe. He said he knows Happy and I love each other because of how we look at each other and how I make her feel safe." Said Toby.

"He's not wrong." Responded Walter taking another bite of his waffle.

"He's going to be alright. He's not going to be messed up, he'll make friends and find love and connect with others. He's already good at it. He's got a good level of EQ." Said Toby with a smile "My son's going to be okay."

"You were worried about him?" Said Walter with a smile. "Your son has always been a talker, he's good with people, just like you. He's got such a broad range of skills, his mind is impressive." He smiled and walked away.

Toby sat there in amazement watching Lucas and Isabelle playing with a ball and throwing it back and forth. Lucas was trying to show her how to catch.

 **MEANWHILE**

Paige and Happy were at the mall, Paige was having fun dragging her around through the dress shops and trying on a bunch of dresses.

"Have you guys set a date for the wedding yet?" asked Happy through the dressing room walls as she put on a bridesmaid dress.

"Not yet, we're thinking something small on the roof in about 6 months." She responded while she waited for Happy to come out and show her the dress.

"Sounds nice." Responded Happy as she fought with the dress.

"Walter's parents, and my sister want to come down. None of them have met Isabelle yet either. My sister hasn't seen Ralph in almost 4 years, we talk and keep in touch but we haven't visited each other." She said. "I don't think I'll make you wear that dress. It looks fine, but It's just not you." She smiled.

"I sure as hell hope not." Responded Happy before going back into the change room. The dress was a little too long for Happy, it was also a little too sparkly for her linking, but she knew the choice was ultimately Paige's and she agreed to try on 3 dresses she didn't like to please her.

Paige passed her another dress over the door and Happy decided to try it on. It was something Paige knew Happy would like. It was knee length, strapless, red and black.

"So, you know you get a say in the dress because I want you to be my maid of honour, right?" asked Paige.

"Oh. Really? Are you sure?" she was kind of surprised. She wasn't expecting it, but she wasn't unaware of the probability of it.

"Of course. You're pretty much my only girl friend. After I had Ralph and left college, none of my friends really stuck around. I didn't have time for much since I was working all the time and busy with my kid. You guys are family to Ralph and me, Isabelle too." She said with a smile. "You're great with Ralph, and you've been nothing but a good friend to me over the last few years. We're the only two girls and we stick together, right? So yes, I'm sure I want you to be my maid of honour." She smiled as Happy walked out of the change room.

"I'd be happy to." She responded with a smile. "I also like this dress better than any others."

"Happy I love it! It looks so great on you! That's the one! I'll get one for my sister, she'll whine until I let her be a bridesmaid." She smiled.

 **MEANWHILE**

"Can we build a fort now?" Asked Lucas as he looked at Toby who was holding Isabelle's hands as she tried to walk.

"Sure buddy, go grab some blankets." Responded Toby.

A few minutes later he heard noises coming from Happy's area of the garage. He put Isabelle down with Walter who was laying on the floor and went to check it out.

"Luke? What're you doing? I thought I said grab blankets?" He asked searching for the boy.

"They're on the table. I'm getting some stuff to help make it better and stronger." Responded Lucas from behind a shelving unit.

Toby shook his head with a small smile.

"Kid, I know you want it to be great but can we just make a normal fort? You know, chairs and stuff?" He asked

Lucas stood up and looked at him "Daddy. We're geniuses. We all have IQ's over 160. We can't make an average fort." He deadpanned.

Toby laughed. "Alright kid, whatever you say."

Lucas came out with arms full of metal rods and connections he had put together and dropped them on the carpet.

Walter, Toby and Lucas worked to try and build a big fort. It was almost tall enough for the grown men to stand up in at the centre.

Isabelle had gotten cranky and was ready for a second nap, Sylvester was walking around with her trying to keep her content while he helped them determine the stability and the proper angles for the rods.

After they finished Toby and Lucas sat in the middle of it, Walter had gone off to put a now very miserable Isabelle to bed. Sylvester was back working his numbers.

"This is a great fort daddy!" Said Lucas with a smile looking up at him.

"Watch this." Said Toby as he flicked a switch on his phone. Stars lit up the tent and the lights in the garage dimmed.

"WHOA! That's so cool!" his smile grew bigger.

"Look it even has the constellations." Said Toby as he pointed it out

"Sagittarius, Ursa major, the big dipper, the little dipper." Lucas named a few he knew.

"Where'd you learn that?" Asked Toby surprised by his knowledge of the stars.

"You were showing them to mom one night on the balcony. I heard you from my window." He smiled.

Toby smiled. "You little spy." He said as he ruffled the boy's hair and they laid back as he showed him the stars and the other constellations.

 **MEANWHILE**

Happy and Paige were having a late dinner at a restaurant down the street on their way home from the mall.

"Do you think Lucas could be the ring bearer?" Asked Paige as she took a sip of her drink.

"Yeah of course. Isabelle's the flower girl, right?" replied Happy.

"Yep, and Ralph's the best man." She smiled

"Toby's going to be jealous." Happy said with a smile.

"Toby's going to have to suck it up." Paige Laughed.

The server brought them their food and they started eating.

"So how are things going with Lucas? I noticed he's really attached to you, but not as much with Toby, not in the same way." Asked Paige.

"Good. Toby and Luke have a little less in common, so he's been struggling with that a little bit, but it's nothing major. I'm pretty sure Lucas has replaced everyone as Toby's best friend, he's like a little wing man." Said Happy with a smile.

"Awe that's so cute, I'm sure they've got a bunch of stuff in common that just hasn't been noticed yet. Toby's a great dad, I'm sure he'll figure it out." Said Paige.

Happy agreed.

"How's Walter really doing with the whole two kids and a pending wedding thing?" She asked with a smile as she took another bite of her food.

"He's good. Isabelle adores him, he still gets nervous sometimes when she's unpredictable or he can't calm her, but he's learning. He hasn't called me with concerns yet, so that's progress. Remember how many times he called me the first time I left?" She laughed

Happy laughed and took a sip of her water "I still can't believe how far we've all come in the last few years. Especially since you and Ralph came into our lives. None of us would be where we are today is it wasn't for you guys, so thanks for that." Said Happy playing with her food a little bit.

"Thanks Happy, That really means a lot, I'm sure you guys would have figured it out though." Replied Paige trying to be modest.

"Seriously? Do you remember when you met us?" she laughed. "Sylvester would never have done what he did for Megan. Walter wouldn't be a dad, I'm sure he would have shut down after Megan and his EQ would never have developed. Toby and I probably wouldn't have ended up together. I definitely would not have lowered my shields and I don't think I'd ever have wanted a kid."

"Well, I mean I guess that's true. You guys did great with Ralph too. I don't think he would ever have reached his full potential without all of you guys helping him." Said Paige taking another bite of her food.

They finished their meals and continued to discuss how far they had all come. It really did amaze Happy how great things turned out. She wouldn't have imagined her life like this, but she was so happy t's how it ended up.

 **LATER THAT NIGHT**

Toby and Lucas headed home later that night and Happy met them back home an hour later.

"Momma look! I made waffles with daddy and a cake too! Try some of it!" He said as she walked into the house.

Happy agreed.

"Is this just chocolate chips shaped like a waffle?" She asked with a smile as she took a bite.

"Someone has butter fingers and dropped too many chocolate chips into the batter." Said Toby as he looked over at Lucas who had a grin plastered on his face.

"Toby, don't blame the kid, we all know you're the spiller." Said Happy with a smirk.

They all laughed.

 **A while later.**

Toby and Happy had put Lucas to bed and had headed off to their own bed.

Toby was laying on his back "He's so great." Said Toby. "I know I say it all the time but today was a really good day." He smiled.

Happy was laying on her side "That's good" Said Happy with a smile.

"He wanted to bond, we baked, he asked about my parents, he asked about you and me and our relationship." He said

Happy cut him off with a small laugh. "That kid."

He continued on his story. "I'm not done." He smiled "He explained to me that he knows what love is because he knows we're in love. He said he can tell because of how we smile, how he remembered that you told him that I make you feel safe despite your past. He explained love to me in the simplest way." He smiled again.

"Well he's not wrong." She smiled and kissed him quickly.

"I know, but I didn't realize he paid that much attention. I didn't know he actually paid attention when I taught him how to analyse people. We also built a fort, and I showed him stars from my phone and he knew some of them because he overheard me telling you about them that one night on the balcony. He watches us more than we realized." He smiled at her.

"You were able to bond with him." She smiled and kissed him quickly. "I knew you would. I told you he listens to you, he's observant."

"He's always been like my side kick, but I didn't feel like I had a deep connection with him, not like you do. I knew he loved me, and I love him more than anything, but that really deep connection wasn't quite where I wanted it to be. Now I think we're really building that." He smiled. "He's going to be alright. He's going to find love, he's got a good EQ, he'll have friends. He's going to be alright."

Happy looked at him confused.

"You were worried about him? I wasn't. He's a talker, just like you. He's good with people just like you. He's outgoing and he's got a sense of humour. He may not be biologically ours, but he's really half you and half me. It's incredible." She smiled again.

"He really is." He smiled and kissed her again. "I don't think we could have ended up with a more perfect child, for us, even if we tried. I think this is exactly how things were supposed to happen for us."

"Me too." She wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes with a small smile.


	21. Lucas starts school!

***NOTE: Talks of bullying and racism.***

 **This is a pretty long chapter compared to the others...Probably won't have many this long again.**

"Ready to go, buddy?" Asked Toby as he walked into the kitchen carrying the boy's little backpack.

"Yeah daddy!" he hopped off the chair and rushed to him to grab his backpack.

They walked out towards the car.

Happy was really nervous for him. She knew he would be bored, she didn't want him to get made fun of, she didn't want him to get himself into trouble on the first day, she didn't want to have to go pick him up at noon.

Toby was equally as nervous, but he didn't show it as much. They both tried really hard to hide it from Lucas and not ruin his excitement. They had already visited the school, and decided he would be going to the same school as Ralph did. Since they had experience with a genius like Ralph. They had warned the teachers that Lucas was a very curious and busy child who always wanted to be doing something to keep his over 180 IQ busy.

"Daddy, what happens if I don't like the other kids? Kids my age are dumb. They can't even read or count." he asked from his car seat.

Toby looked up into the rear view mirror quickly, "Buddy, you're going to have to play nice with them anyways. Try and make at least one good friend. Be nice!"

"I'll try." He responded quietly.

Once they arrived at the school, Happy and Toby walked him in, they both kissed him on the cheek and sent him into his class room.

"Oh god, I don't want them to call us at noon to come pick him up. He's going to get bored and take something apart, I know him. Or he's going to have a little bit of an attitude with them, and say something he shouldn't." Said Happy as she turned to walk out.

"Don't worry about him, he's going to be fine. He knows not to do that stuff here." Said Toby as he placed an arm around her shoulders as they walked out.

They headed to the garage and tried to distract themselves until it was time to go pick him up at 3.

 **Later that day**

At about 1pm Happy's phone rang.

"Hello? Yes, I'm his mother." She put her hand on her forehead and Toby walked over to her with a concerned look. She continued on the phone "Yes. Oh. Okay, Okay. I'll head right over. Thank you for calling." She hung up.

"I told you we'd get a call!" she said looking at Toby and grabbing her keys.

"What did he do?" Asked Toby following her to the car.

"He kept telling the teacher to teach them real stuff instead of colouring. He was disruptive and once he was sent to the principal's office, he told her he came to school to learn not take naps and that he hates naps." She let out a small smile.

Toby laughed. "It's exactly like our kid to get kicked out on the first day of pre-K."

 **At the school**

Once they arrived at school and walked into the principal's office she sat down with them.

"Mr and Mrs. Curtis," she started as they took a seat across from him.

"It's Doctor." Toby corrected her, and Happy shot him a glare that could kill.

"Lucas seems to be too advanced for Pre-K. We were used to Ralph, but Ralph didn't speak much, we never had behavioral problems with him." Said the principal.

"My kid does not have behavioral problems. He's a genius with an IQ of 182. He need to be kept busy. He has social skills, Ralph didn't have any. They're not the same kind of genius." Answered Toby.

He didn't like the tone that principal was speaking with them in.

"I understand, but he's already too disruptive for a normal classroom. We could skip him up to first grade, or we could put him in the Special Education class, where he can get the attention he needs. I'm willing to give him 1 week in Pre-K, but if this is any indication, it's not what's best for him." She replied.

Toby say up straighter in his chair and leaned forward. "My son needs to learn how to be with normal children his age who aren't geniuses. We'll talk to him. Give him the week." Said Toby.

"Alright, one week to improve his behavior. If nothing has changed by then, we're going to switch him classes." Said the principal.

Happy and Toby agreed with her and went to pick up Lucas from sitting on the hallway floor outside the office.

They brought him back to the garage. And sat down and had a long talk with him about what was appropriate for school. They tried to make him understand that the other kids didn't know all the things he knew and that he had to be patient with them. They promised they'd do more advanced work at home with him if he wanted it, but that he had to behave properly at school.

The next few days went better. He was minimally disruptive in class. Toby, Ralph and Walter had given him some mind games to pass the time.

 ***One week later***

One week later the principal called Happy and Toby for another meeting. She wanted to discuss the progress.

"Dr. and Mrs. Curtis, there have been positive changes in Lucas' behaviour. I'm impressed." She smiled at them.

She continued "But, he is still too bored and disruptive. Maybe we should talk about switching him up to a grade 1 level. I know it won't be challenging, but there is more structure, the other children are more advanced than those in pre-K, he could pick up a few things from the other children."

"We want him to be with kids his own age. He's only been with adults and geniuses for the last 2 years. We want him to be with a group of his peers so he can learn to interact with kids his own age. Even though he's light years ahead of them intellectually." Said Toby.

"I understand, but it's only two years. They are 6 year olds, it's close enough to his age, like I said the structure could be good for him." Said the principal.

Toby was getting annoyed of her trying to push them into something they didn't want to do.

"He's smaller than the kids in his class now, put him in a class of first graders, they're going to eat him alive. He's different enough without adding to that, we don't need another reason for him to get picked on. When he's 13 and the others are 15, that's going to make a difference." Said Toby.

After much more debate, they agreed to let Lucas spend one week in first grade, and see how he did. If he liked it, Toby and Happy said they'd consider keeping him there. If they found it wasn't working out, they would keep him in Pre-K and that would be the end of it.

 ***The next week***

"Ready? Remember, it's only for 1 week. If you like it, we'll talk about keeping you there, alright?" Said Toby as they were walking into the school together.

Happy helped him put his stuff in his little locker and kissed his cheek, "Have a good day, buddy."

"I'll try mom. Bye dad!" he said as he walked into the classroom.

Happy and Toby walked out of the school. In the car on their way back to the garage Happy spoke up.

"You're really good with all his schooling stuff, you really know what's best for him. I never really liked school, and I just went to get it over with. No one fought for me to get what I needed in school."

"I know. It's hard, ever genius is different. It might be best for him to skip grades, like I did. It might be better to keep him in the right grades like Ralph. Who knows? We'll see how this week goes." He replied.

"I'm worried about him. I've got a bad feeling about this school thing. I feel like it's going to be a real battle for him and us." She said nervously.

"I know. We're just going to have to see how it all plays out. I'm sure he's going to be fine."

 ***Two days later***

Happy was at her work bench when her phone rang. It was the school again.

"Hello. Yes, I'm his mother. Oh my god. Yes. Yes. I'll be there right away." She hung up and walked to Toby's desk.

"We have to go pick up Luke." She said standing in front of him.

"Why? What happened?" He asked.

"School called. He got into a fist fight. He's got a busted lip but the other kid's got a broken nose. We have to go pick him up." She replied.

"Oh my god. That's not like him, he's never been violent before. What the hell?!" They both rushed out of the garage.

 **At the school**

Once they arrived at the school they both walked up to Lucas who had an ice pack to his lip and was sitting in the hallway by the principal's office. Happy sat on the floor with him and hugged him.

"Baby, what happened? Are you okay?" She said quickly.

"I'm okay. Just my lip hurts." He replied.

Toby crouched down and asked him to move the ice pack so he could take a look at the injury. He took a mental note of the swelling and the size of the cut, it wasn't too bad, but it still looked painful.

The principal asked them to come into her office again.

"We've got to stop meeting like this." Said Toby quietly.

"What happened?" asked Happy concerned.

"It appears one of the boys in his grade 1 class was bullying him. Lucas went to walk away. The kid grabbed Lucas' shoulder and Lucas lost it. Apparently he knows how to fight, he broke the other boy's nose." Said the principal.

Happy spoke up "He was in foster care until he was two and a half before we adopted him. He learned how to fight, he had to."

"What exactly was he being picked on for?" asked Toby, not really wanting to know the answer.

"I don't know the details. He won't tell me the full extent of it. He was being called a nerd and a shrimp, but I'm positive there's more he isn't telling me. I have a 6 year old with a broken nose and a 4 year old with a split lip, there has to be more to it. Either way, I'm going to have to suspend him for one day. Fighting is unacceptable no matter the reason. The other student is getting 3 days, because he was the one who was doing the bullying."

Toby and Happy agreed that it seemed reasonable.

After a bit more discussion they took Lucas home for the rest of the day.

 **At home.**

Toby tried to talk to him about it once they were home while he was patching up his lip and cleaning the wound out properly. Lucas wasn't up for talking with him.

After Toby and Happy had both said goodnight to him he asked Happy if she could stay for a bit. She agreed.

"Mom, can I talk to you about what happened at school today?" he asked while sitting up in his bed.

She was sitting next to him. "Of course, baby, what happened?"

"They made fun of me." He said quietly.

"I know, the principal said the bully was calling you names." She said as she placed her arm around his shoulders.

"They did, but they also saw you and daddy drop me off the other day, they made fun of me because I don't look like you or daddy. They made fun of me because I was adopted, like it was a bad thing. They said that we weren't a real family because we all look different." He said lowering his head slightly.

Happy realized they had never addressed the issue of racism with him. They never really had a need to. He knew he was adopted, and he knew that family didn't have to be blood. Happy and Toby had never really paid attention to the looks they sometimes got, and they cared even less what people thought of the fact that their son was black. It was never an issue for them and they had hoped it would never be an issue for other people either.

Kids could be mean though.

Happy knew Toby was listening on the other side of the door. She wasn't entirely sure how to address the issue to a child. She had grown up with stereotypes her entire life, she knew deep down that Lucas would also have to. She knew he'd also have to grow up with the stigma of having been a foster kid for a while and being adopted.

"Baby, those kids are wrong. We know we're a real family. We don't have to look alike to be a real family. We're happy, and we love each other, that's what makes a family. You and I both know that being adopted is a good thing. DNA doesn't always make a family." She said while running her fingers through his hair.

"Mom, they said it was weird and wrong that daddy was white, I was black and you were Asian. They said I was some poor foster kid who you were just going to get rid of. They called me orphan boy." He said leaning in to put his head against her.

She was sad for him. She knew that some people would have problems with it. She knew there would be judgement made. She knew that her family would probably be the victims of those kinds of things more than once.

"Baby, It's not wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with us all being different races. That's not what matters. It's true we are all different, and to some people it might even be weird to see, but you need to know that it doesn't matter. You're definitely not an orphan. Daddy and I love you no matter what other people think. The important people in our lives don't care about any of that stuff, and don't make fun of it." She said.

She wasn't exactly sure what else to tell him. She knew she was talking in circles and repeating herself, but she didn't know how to explain it to him. She didn't know what else to tell him, without being too blunt about anything and telling him that people suck and they should mind their own business.

"And you know for a fact that daddy and I aren't bringing you back. You know you were adopted and you're ours forever. We've been through that many times." She added

Toby walked in just then and sat on the bed. He could overhear Happy talking in circles and decided to add his two cents to the conversation.

"Buddy, you know they're wrong. You know that we don't care about race. Do you know why it hasn't come up since you've been with us? Because it doesn't matter and it's not important to us. Yes, I'm a typical white guy. Your mom is half Asian, and half white. You're half black and half white. That's all true. But it doesn't make us any less of a family. It doesn't mean we love each other any less. It's who people are that matters, not their skin colour. You also know adoption is a wonderful thing and you're not an orphan boy. You got parents and we got a kid. We built our own awesome little family." Said Toby as he sat on the bed on the other side of Lucas.

"Buddy, unfortunately you're going to have to deal with stereotypes and racism your entire life. I still do. It happens because some people aren't as okay with people who aren't the same race as them. Some people aren't okay with two people of different races being together, like me and people aren't okay with the fact that we're all different races and we just need to ignore those people. Standing up to it is good, when you don't use violence." Said Happy still playing with his hair.

Lucas tried to explain more of his story to them. "I tried to tell them that we're a real family and we're geniuses, but he wouldn't listen so I tried to walk away. He called me a nerd, orphan boy and a baby shrimp. He tapped my shoulder and I got mad. That's when I hit him. I shouldn't have, but it just happened." He was apologetic.

"I know buddy, try to not let that happen again, okay? Violence doesn't solve anything." Said Toby.

"I know, I'll try next time." He said looking down.

"You good now? Anything else?" Asked Toby.

"I'm good. I know we're a real family, I know they're just close minded. I told you kids were stupid, daddy. I told you I didn't want to go to school with kids. I told you adults and geniuses were better." Said Lucas as Happy and Toby got off the bed and went to leave his room.

Toby and Happy both tried to hold back a laugh. "I know buddy, but you have to go to school." Said Toby as he closed the door.

They went to their room to get ready for bed themselves. It had been a long day.

"Were you like that as a kid?" Asked Happy. "You skipped a bunch of grades, you must have hated the other kids, you with your big inflated genius ego."

"I did think most of them were stupid, which is why I was an MD by the time I was 16. Maybe skipping grades would be good for him. Kind of like what I did. I turned out alright, I can make friends, I'm a social person and I've got an alright EQ. He's a social person, his age just hasn't caught up to his mentality yet. That's how I was." Responded Toby as he was changing into his PJ's.

"Maybe that might be best for him. Ralph needed to develop his EQ, that's why he's staying in the right grades. Lucas had a good amount of EQ, he's good with people, just not kids. He's a very busy child, his minds always running. Hands on stuff is his strong suit, class rooms aren't going to be, even though he can ace everything." Said Happy as she changed into some boy shorts and one of Toby's old T-shirts and climbing into bed.

Toby joined her and spoke up "Our son broke a kids nose today because they dissed our family. I wasn't even mad. The reason he lashed out, is more than that. The kid did something he didn't like, he knows better than to hurt people, but when the kid grabbed his shoulder, his fight or flight instincts kicked in and he fought. It subconsciously brought up the memories of always having to watch his back. Even at 2 years old, it stuck with him. He's a fighter." Said Toby explaining the psychology of why Lucas acted so harshly at school.

"It's not like him. I knew it had something to do with having been in foster care before. I was like that, I still am. That doesn't go away." She said as she snuggled in closer to Toby.

she continued to speak up, "I hate that people are going to pick on him because we're all different races. Why the hell do people care so much about stuff that doesn't concern them? I don't care about what people at the grocery store think of us, it's fairly clear he isn't our shared biological child. I care that my 4 year old gets picked on by 6 year olds who don't know anything. I care that people are going to judge our family a million different ways instead of seeing it as something wonderful. I'm used to being stereotyped, I don't want him to feel like that." Said Happy.

He pulled her closer "People like to put people into boxes. People like to label people. It's human nature. We are defying a lot of those boxes, as a family and as individuals, and they don't know where to put us. People like to think they know everything. Some are just plain ignorant." He paused and then continued "It bothers me that when we go to pick him up, people assume we're not his parents, just because of the way we all look. People assume that we're babysitting. Some people assume things about you and me as a couple at first glance, but throw in a black child and they don't understand anything anymore. It's kind of funny to watch actually." They both let out a small laugh.

"People are failing to see how wonderful it is. Two parents who aren't the same race, raising a child who's a different race. As long as he turns into a good person we've done well. Who cares about anything else?" She said snuggling in loser to him."Our son is going to be picked on his entire life for so many things, being a genius, being black, being adopted, being small and so many other things. It's not fair. And we still don't know what we're going to do about his schooling. People just suck and I wish we could protect him from them and their judgement." She said pulling Toby's arm around her.

"Racism and stereotyping is an unfortunate thing that people just won't let go of. We can talk to him about school tomorrow and get his input on the matter." he responded.

"That sounds like a good idea." Said Happy "Remember when you dragged me to that get together with some of your friends from your teen years and you really actually experienced discrimination with me for the first time? That was a blast." She said in a dry and sarcastic tone.

"Remember how we left 20 minutes in, and I haven't spoken to them since?" He responded dryly.

"What was it again? Oh right," she said dryly and prepared herself to make a sarcastic impression ""Toby, what you couldn't get a girl on your own so you bought a hot Asian one online?" which was followed by "Does she even speak English? Does she understand us, she hasn't said anything?" Yeah that was a great time." She rolled her eyes. "I'm just glad that happened before we had Luke, I can't imagine what they would have said then."

Toby cringed listening to her make the impressions. He remembered how shocked and angry he was when they spoke about Happy that way. Not only was it demeaning to her as a person, but she was also his wife who was an incredible person. These people were his old friends, he had expected higher from them.

"Remember how I lashed out on them after those remarks and we left right away. I haven't spoken to them since, because we don't need those kind of people in our lives, even if they thought they were joking, it was offensive to you and I wasn't going to put up with it." He responded.

He smiled "You know I love you for you, right? Your amazing talents, your tough on the outside, mush on the inside attitude, your incredible mind, your lack of comedy skills and everything that you are. You're like a real superhero." He pulled her in for a quick kiss.

She smiled and let out a small laugh "And I love you for your dorkiness, your big heart, your sarcastic humour, you're an amazing father to our son, you also save the world. I love you, you tall sexy white boy who thinks he can dance." She smiled and kissed him quickly again before he had a chance to interject.

"Tall sexy white boy? That's the first time I've ever heard you say that one." He said with a confused look on his face and they both laughed.

 ***The next day***

"Luke, what do you want to do for school? We want your input." Asked Toby as he sat the boy down on the couch at the garage.

"What do you mean? I don't have to go to school if I don't want to?" He asked innocently.

"No, you have to go to school. How you want to do school, stay in pre-K, skip to first grade or fly through the grades like I did." Said Toby as he sat on the coffee table across from Lucas with his elbows on his knees and his hands under his chin.

Happy was next to him in a similar position, except her hands were out in front of her.

"We want to know what you'd feel comfortable doing, or what you really don't want to do." Said Happy.

"I don't want to be with the babies in pre-K" Said Lucas "I get too bored, and lots of them can't even count or read."

Happy and Toby looked at each other and then nodded to Lucas.

Just then Walter and Paige walked in with Isabelle.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Asked Paige standing next to Toby and handing him the baby. He always loved to play with her.

"We're trying to decide what's best for this kid in terms of schooling, because clearly something isn't working." Said Happy.

"Home school him." Said Walter taking a sip of his coffee.

Toby, Happy and Paige glared at him "Not a chance. He needs some form of social interaction outside of Scorpion. That's the worst idea you have ever had." Said Toby before looking down at the baby sitting on his lap "Your daddy's funny isn't he?"

Walter backed away and went to work on one of his projects.

"For what it's worth, I kept Ralph in the right grades because he needed the social aspect. He needed to develop his EQ. Now that he's in high school, he's got friends his age and he doesn't want to skip ahead. Lucas' social skills are miles ahead of Ralph's at that age." Said Paige.

"He doesn't want to be with the –quote- babies in pre-K. He's been very vocal about that. He gets too bored and then gets disruptive. The kids in first grade picked on him and busted his lip." Said Happy, looking up at Paige and gesturing to the cut on Lucas' lip.

Isabelle started to fuss "What's the matter with you?" said Toby looking down at her. "Alright, if you're going to fuss, you're going back to your mom." He said as he handed the baby off to Paige. "Bye-bye" he gestured with his hand and Happy did the same thing.

"Okay, now. What do you want to do with this school dilemma?" Toby looked back at Lucas.

"Can I fly through it like you did daddy? I want to work in robotics and engineering though. I want to work in engineering like mom." Asked Lucas.

"Well, mom and I are going to have to talk about it. But if that's what you want to do, we'll consider it, alright?" Said Toby.

Lucas agreed and went off to try and put together a motor Happy had taken apart. He was trying to see how fast he could do it.

"Maybe we should let him do what he wants." Said Happy turning to face Toby.

She continued "If we sent him to an alternative school, he would go to class every day, and meet people. He could work at his own speed. He would have smaller class sizes and more individualized help. He wouldn't have to be there all day long if he got too bored, but he could be. He'd finish elementary school in a few years and high school in another few, he'd probably be in college around the same age as you were."

"An alternative school might be good for him. He would still be interacting with people. He would have teachers and smaller class sizes and he probably wouldn't get picked on, they could monitor him more." Said Toby he took a pause while he thought about it for a few moments. "I'll go look some up and call them and set up meetings." He said getting up to go over to his desk.

 ***Two days later***

They dropped Lucas off at school and sent him in to the small class room. The alternative school had accepted him, and he was starting his first day with them.

As they walked out Happy spoke up "Let's hope we don't get a phone call today."

It was his third first day of school in almost as many weeks, but they both still got nervous dropping him off.

Happy got anxious every time her phone would make a sound, but they never got a phone call.

They were waiting outside his classroom at 3pm when his day was over. The school was open longer, students could come and go as they pleased between the hours of 8am and 4pm, but Happy and Toby decided that from 9 to 3 was long enough for Lucas' first day.

He came out of the class room with a big smile on his face.

"I like this school!" he said as he stood in front of them.

They both smiled at him and Toby ruffled the boy's hair.

One of the teacher's assistants came out to greet them a few moments after.

"Hi, Dr. and Mrs. Curtis, nice to see you again." She said as she approached them.

"Nice to see you again. And please, our first names are fine." Said Toby.

She nodded.

"Lucas did great today. He's already done a lot of the Pre-K work, he should be moving on to kindergarten work by the end of next week. He works really quickly, I'm very impressed at his willingness to get it done. He did complain about how tedious it was, and he got a little bored and restless but we took breaks and he kept working through it. He's a great kid." She said with a smile looking down at Lucas.

"That's the kid I know!" Said Toby as he picked up Lucas "That's what I want to hear, buddy!"

Lucas smiled at all of them "I like this school, I can work at my own speed. I made some friends with the older kids. And I don't have to deal with babies who can't read." He said factually.

They all let out a small laugh.

"Okay, ready to head home? We have to stop and see grandpa first." Said Happy as she took her son's backpack off and Toby put him down so he could walk.

"Yeah! I want to ask him if he has another motor I can put together. I finished the one you gave me momma." Said Lucas as they were turning to walk out "Bye Ms. Alex, see you tomorrow." He said as he waved to his teachers' assistant. She waved back. Toby, Lucas and Happy headed out.

He ran to the car while Toby and Happy walked behind him.

"I think this place is going to work for him. We've got it right this time." Said Happy.

"I think we've got this parenting thing figured out." Toby said with a small smile.

"Don't get ahead of yourself he's 4." She deadpanned.

Toby reached out and put his arm around her shoulder. "Yeah, but he's got the mindset of a 30 year old man sometimes. You heard him talk about those "Stupid babies who have the fine motor skills of elephants, and can't count or read yet." They both smiled.

"Mom! Daddy! hurry up! I have to pee and I don't want to have dinner late tonight." He yelled from the car as he waited for them to unlock the doors.

"And then he says something like that, and I remember he's 4 and has an attitude." Said Toby and they both burst out laughing.

"Chill out, kid!" yelled Happy.

Lucas just rolled his eyes and let out a dramatic sigh leaning against the car.

 ***It was mentioned the first time they met Lucas that he was dark skinned, just never had a reason to come up again.***

 ***Sorry about the time jumps, I know they can get confusing to keep up with.***


	22. Anniversary

Toby woke Lucas up early that morning around 6:30.

"Hey buddy, wake up" he said softly. Sitting on the edge of his bed.

"What?" said Lucas still wrapped in his blankets with is eyes shut.

He was like Happy in that sense. She liked being up early and being productive…after 7am and after she'd had coffee.

"Want to help me plan a surprise?" asked Toby.

He enjoyed mornings. Sometimes as early as 5 am on weekdays. Weekends he liked to sleep in though.

Lucas opened one eye slowly "Why? What kind of surprise?" he asked curiously.

"It's me and mom's anniversary. I want to plan a nice diner, bake a cake and maybe even decorate the house, but I need your help." Toby answered excitedly. "Are you going to help me? Hurry up before mom wakes up and hears our plan."

"What do I have to do?" he asked.

"We'll go to the garage and then you and me are going to have to leave early. If mom stops us for any reason, I need you to fake being sick so we can get away for the afternoon and come back home to get everything ready. Got it?" asked Toby.

"Alright. I'll fake sick if I have to." He responded with a small smile. "Can I go back to sleep now?" he asked rolling over.

"Perfect! Go back to sleep, see you later little man." He said as he walked out of Lucas's room.

 **Later that day.**

"Happy I'm gonna head out, we need groceries back home and I want to go to the book store, Luke wants to come pick out some books too." He said approaching Happy's work bench with Lucas at his side.

Happy eyed them suspiciously. "Alright, sounds good. I'll meet you guys at home, I've got a few things to work on here and Walt needs my hand with something when Ralph gets home from school." She said as Toby and Lucas turned to walk away.

"Head to the car dad's going to be out in a minute." She said to Lucas as she grabbed Toby's jacket. He turned a little surprised,

"What's this abo-" before he could say anything else she pulled him down for a long kiss.

"Happy anniversary." She let out a big smile. She kissed him again and then said "I know you're planning something, I don't know what though." She said as Toby looked confused and was about to try and play dumb. When she spoke up again.

"Our kid's a bad liar and spilled the beans this morning. I'll thank you properly tonight…once he's asleep." She said as she turned around to focus on her work letting out a sly grin.

Toby let out the biggest grin. "Mrs. Curtis, I have no idea what you're talking about." And turned to walk away.

 **Later that day**

Lucas helped Toby bake a cake, and prepare dinner. They decorated the house with some cute Christmas lights, and a bunch of flowers they had picked up. Toby was really into romance and cheesy things like that.

"Dad, did you put a timer on for the cake?" Asked Lucas all of a sudden. As Toby was cooking over the stove.

"Crap, crap. No,no,no,no,no." He said quickly and pulled out a cake that was mostly burnt.

"I don't think we can give that one to mom." Said Lucas as he looked at the blackened cake on the counter.

"We'll go buy one. We've got time." He said as he moved back to the stove to continue cooking. He was trying something new and didn't know how it would turn out.

He put a little bit on a plate and handed it to Lucas. "Here, try this, tell me how you like it."

They both took a bite at the same time. Toby stopped and spit it into the sink. Lucas spit his onto the counter.

"SPICY!" said Lucas.

Toby reached into the fridge to pull out the milk and took a drink right out of the carton, and then passed it to Lucas to do the same.

"What the heck! I did exactly what the recipe called for." Said Toby looking it up on his phone. "Damn! I put 1 tablespoon chili powder instead of 1 teaspoon. Mixed with the peppers and the other stuff, it's way too spicy." He said rubbing his hand on his forehead.

"Momma doesn't like spicy food. None of us do." Said Lucas taking another drink of milk.

"I know. Alright, we'll go out and buy food then. Since apparently I can't do this properly today." He said as he grabbed his keys and wallet "Let's go back to the store." He said opening the door for Lucas.

 **A while later**

They got back about 10 minutes before Happy did. They had just enough time to get the table set and everything they had picked up, laid out when she walked in.

Toby and Lucas were both sitting at the table patiently waiting when she walked in.

"What's all this?" she asked with a big grin as she approached the table and took a seat.

"Happy anniversary." Said Toby with a smile.

"Happy anniversary." She smiled back.

"I tried to cook, but I messed up the recipe, so I went out and picked up Chinese food." Said Toby as Happy looked at the spread of food curiously.

"It's cute that you tried." She smiled at him.

"It was too spicy. We drank all the milk too." Said Lucas with a smile.

Toby and Happy both laughed.

They ate dinner and made small talk about the day, and how school was going for Lucas.

Lucas got up when he was done eating and went to grab the cake from the fridge. He set it on the table between Happy and Toby "Happy Anniversary to the best parents ever. I love you."

"Thanks buddy." Smiled Toby.

"Thanks baby." Said Happy as she ran her hands through his hair.

"Dad had to buy the cake because he burned the other one." Said Lucas as he took a seat.

Happy laughed.

 **A little while later**

Lucas was in bed and they headed to their room.

Toby picked her up and held her in a bear hug "I love you so much." He said as he kicked the door closed behind them and fell onto the bed together laughing.

He fell on top of her and she kissed him hard, "I love you too."

He was laying on top of her with one arm to his side holding him slightly off her chest as he brushed her hair to the sides, "Happy third anniversary, my amazing and beautiful wife." He smiled and kissed her. "Over 5 years with the love of my life and I couldn't be happier. We've made the best life together and I can't wait for the rest of our lives."

"Happy third anniversary my dorky husband." She smiled as she ran her hands up his sides to his cheeks. "You're amazing. I'm thankful every day for the life we've made together and how good you are to me, and for me."

"Always" he said with a smile and kissed her again.


	23. Pets!

Lucas woke up and got dressed in the clothes Happy had laid out on his dresser the night before. He met Happy and Toby in the kitchen. Toby was getting his lunch ready for school while Happy gathered his books in his bag. He had started first grade work that week.

As they ate a quick breakfast Lucas started to ask about getting a pet.

"Can we get a pet?" he asked

"I haven't had enough coffee for this conversation." Said Happy leaning against the counter and filling up her To-Go mug.

Toby sighed "Why?"

"We already have ferret Buller at the garage, but he's not ours, he's Scorpion's. I want my own pet, maybe." He said taking a bite of his cereal.

"What kind of pet are we talking?" asked Toby leaning against the counter next to Happy and taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well, I've been doing research and because of your jobs, I think a puppy would be too hard. Because of the long hours we're at the garage." He said

Toby and Happy nodded. –Thank god he had thought about it and done research, he was making an educated request.

"Cats and fish are boring. Hamsters are nocturnal, so I can't play with it while it's sleeping during the day. I think that a bunny would be a good pet for us." He stated and took a drink of his juice.

Happy and Toby looked at each other and then back at Lucas.

"I did research. They're crepuscular, which means they're awake at dawn and dusk the most. Which means I can play with it during the evenings and mornings. It lives in a cage, so I just have to clean the cage every 5 days for optimum care. We can leave it alone all day, and it will be okay." He stated with pleading eyes.

"You really did your research. We'll think about it while you're at school, and we'll talk about it tonight, alright? Time to head out, or you'll be late." Said Toby as he grabbed the boy's backpack and headed for his shoes by the door.

 **Later that afternoon**

"He really put a lot of time into research for a pet." Said Toby as he walked up to Happy's workbench.

"He did." She nodded "Are we really considering a pet?" she asked

"I think we should consider it. He put a lot of time into the research. The browser history on his tablet is full of different pets. Be lucky he didn't ask for a snake or a bearded dragon." His eyes widened "Oh yeah, those were in his history too. He went all out."

"Ew. Reptiles. We're not getting reptiles." She stated making a face at him.

Toby laughed at her expression.

"We could start out with fish, and see how he does with those? They say pets of any kind are good for kids, especially those with gifted minds or those with Autism. Pets are good for people, they give them something to love and care for, a purpose almost. They can help alleviate anxiety, promote connections and respect for living things and improve mood." Stated Toby. He thought a pet was a great idea. He had studied the benefits of having pets in his younger years.

Happy nodded. "All very good points." She said "I never had any pets. Did you?"

"We had a cat, but it died when I was 6. I had a lot of mice when I was studying their brains in school…I had to kill them after the study though, they were suffering…losing control of their limbs, spasm and a few were losing control of their bodily functions. I don't know if you'd call lab mice pets, but I thought of them as pets." He stated with a slight frown.

"Well that got morbid really fast." She said with wide eyes

"I cried and the mice died but my experiment was published. It was a rough time for 12 year old Tobias Curtis." He said in response.

"God that's sad. Moving on, please." She said as she changed the subject. "Should we start with fish, and see how that goes, I feel like that's a good start."

"Sure, that's a good start. Want to go to the pet store tonight and take a look?" he asked excitedly. "I'm actually so excited to be getting a pet." He smiled

"You dork." She smiled. "Let's go when we pick him up from school. We have to stay firm. A few fish is all we're getting, got it?"

"Of course." He smiled as he walked away.

 **That evening**

They got to the pet store and Toby saw the puppies through the window and headed straight for them with Lucas following him. Happy followed and rolled her eyes.

Within minutes Toby was sitting on the floor with 3 puppies jumping all over him with the biggest smile ever plastered on his face. Lucas was on his way to sit next to him and play with the puppies.

Happy shook her head and stood in front of them a few feet away with her arms crossed shaking her head trying to hold back a smile at how cute her husband and son were with the puppies.

"Guys we came here for fish." She finally said trying to hold back a laugh.

"Happy look at their faces!" said Toby holding up a puppy. "They're so cute and full of love, look at him!"

"Yes he's very cute, but we came here for fish." She said still crossing her arms but standing closer to them.

"Momma, look this one loves me, she's licking my face." Said Lucas with a big grin.

"Ew. Stop letting it lick your mouth, you don't know where its mouth's been!" she said looking at Lucas.

"You sound like such a mom." Said Toby with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes. "I am a mom, and someone has to be the parent."

"Please can we get one? I know my research shows it's a bad idea, but please?" Said Lucas holding up a puppy.

"Happy look at them! They're so cute! How can you say no to one of them?" asked Toby with a grin.

Just then an elderly lady was standing next to Happy smiling at the funny scene unfolding.

"Cute." Said the elderly lady.

"We came here for a fish." Deadpanned Happy.

"Sweetie, you're going to lose this battle. Let them get the puppy. Fish are boring." Said the lady with a wink to Lucas.

"We're too busy for a puppy." Responded Happy.

"If you can manage a child, you can manage a puppy." Said the lady as she turned to walk away.

Happy rolled her eyes again.

"Guys. Get off the floor." She said.

"Does that mean we're getting the puppy?" Asked Lucas with a big smile.

"How about we meet in the middle and get the bunny?" said Happy

Lucas and Toby shared a look.

"Let's go take a look at them." Said Toby.

Lucas reluctantly agreed and left the puppies in favour of looking at the bunnies.

 **Later that night**

They were walking into the house, "We didn't get a fish. That's not a fish. We agreed on a fish." Said Happy as she carried in a few bags of stuff.

"You agreed to meet in the middle." Said Toby carrying in a cage.

"We went there for a fish, and we came back with a bunny." Deadpanned Happy.

"Be thankful we talked him out of the puppy." Said Toby putting the cage down on the floor. And starting to set it up.

" _We_ didn't talk him out of a puppy, I did. _I_ talked him out of the puppy. I also had to talk you out of it." She said crouching down to help him set it up.

Lucas was putting the small baby bunny on the floor so he could play with it.

"Bunnies are smart. I can train him to do tricks. He's still a baby though, so it's going to be hard." Said Lucas, almost as if he was in his own little world focused on the baby bunny.

"You'll have to work with him. He's your responsibility." Said Happy. "He still needs a name." she said starring at the bunny in Lucas's arms.

"How about Tesla?" asked Lucas. "Like Nikola Tesla the engineer. Or maybe Chewie, like Chewbacca because dad and I like Star Wars."

"It's up to you buddy." Said Toby as he was helping Happy open all the packaging for all of the equipment the bunny needed.

"Which one do you like?" he said looking down at the baby bunny in his lap. "Chewie or Tesla?"

The baby bunny starred at him blankly.

"I think Tesla suits him. He's brown and puffy like Chewbacca, but He looks like a Tesla." He said looking up at Happy.

Toby was sitting next to him now holding the baby bunny and giving it kisses. The bunny fit in his hands.

Happy smiled looking at them interact with the tiny creature. She hadn't held it yet. She didn't really know how to have a pet, she had never had any.

She took a seat on the other side of Lucas.

"Want to hold him momma?" Asked Lucas taking the bunny out of Toby's hands.

"Hey!" Said Toby.

"Sure buddy." Smiled Happy as the boy placed it in her hands.

"Hi little guy." She said as she held it up to her face. "Oh you're so cute and fluffy, yes you are!" she said and it sounded like she was talking to a baby.

Toby looked at her with a big smile "You know baby talk is bad for brain development."

"I think that's in human babies." She rolled her eyes.

After a while they put the bunny in it's new cage to get used to the new environment. They decided to keep it out in the living room, so it wouldn't keep Lucas awake at night.

They put Lucas to bed, and he thanked them again for letting him get the bunny.

Once Lucas was in bed, Happy and Toby headed for their room.

"You like the bunny don't you?" he smiled at her.

"It's a baby bunny, how can anyone resist a baby fluff ball?" she smiled.

"You were reluctant at first, because you've never had pets, but now that it's here, you've let yourself get attached already." He noted with a small smile.

"It's a bunny. No need to shrink me on the matter." She said rolling her eyes.

"I think it's sweet." He said hopping into bed.

"Again, it's our son's bunny. It lives in the cage." She said trying to hide her smile.

"You already love the bunny, you're excited about it, because you've never had a pet before. You're hiding your excitement, and I don't know why. I watched you talk to it like a baby earlier, I can read right through you Happy Quinn-Curtis." He said pulling her onto the bed.

"Shut up." She smirked and pulled him into a kiss. "So what? It's cute and it's living in our house."

"Happy Quinn talking to a tiny animal like a baby is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Very maternal." He smiled with a smirk on his face.

"Shut up." She kissed him again.


	24. What if

They had a very tough case that day. Some of the equipment Happy had been using blew up. She wasn't badly injured, but she did have some cuts and bruises, a few burns, a sprained wrist and she was sore from flying backwards about 12 feet due to the explosion. Once they were back at the garage Toby patched her up. It didn't look so bad once she had changed her ripped and dirty clothing and Toby had cleaned all the cuts and bandaged her wounds.

She stayed at the garage while Toby went to pick Lucas up from Patrick's shop. Since their case ran late, Patrick was instructed to pick Lucas up from school and babysit until they were done.

"Hey Toby, where's Happy?" Asked Patrick as Toby entered his shop.

When Lucas overheard he ran over to hug Toby "Hi daddy! Where's mom? Is she okay?" he asked quickly.

"Don't worry, she's okay. There was a bit of an explosion today, but she's all good. She's at the garage, she had a few cuts, bruises and burns and a sprained wrist, but she's fine. She's just sore, so I told her to get some rest while I came to pick the kid up." He responded keeping himself calm so they wouldn't get overly concerned. She wasn't hurt that badly, she just needed to rest.

"Not good. As long as it's not too serious. Tell her I hope she feels better soon and if you guys need anything, just let me know." Smiled Patrick.

"Thanks, we really appreciate it." Said Toby as he grabbed Lucas' backpack.

"I'm sure you'll take good care of her, doc." He said as Toby and Lucas walked out.

"Always" he responded.

 **In the car**

"Is momma really okay?" asked Lucas as they were driving back to the garage.

"Yep, she's going to be fine. We're going to stop at the garage to pick her up then we're heading home. She's just a little sore right now, so no roughhousing, got it?" said Toby as he glanced up and looked at the boy in the rear view mirror.

"Okay." Agreed Lucas. He was really concerned about his mom being hurt.

"She's fine, buddy." Toby reassured him. He noticed that Lucas looked a little sad.

"Okay." He agreed again.

 **Back at the garage**

"Momma!" said Lucas loudly as he entered the garage.

Happy was laying on the couch playing on her phone.

She slowly turned to sit up to greet him when she heard him say her name.

"Hey buddy." She said slightly wincing as she sat up on the couch.

"Can I hug you?" asked Lucas a little concerned. He was standing in front of her looking at her minor wounds.

"Of course" she said "Just not too tight." She smiled.

He gave her a long hug and held her. She held him back tightly. –God it was nice to hold him again.

"I'm glad you're okay, momma." He said as he pulled away.

"So am I, buddy." She smiled at him. "Help me up, and we'll head home. Dad's waiting in the car, right?"

Lucas nodded and held his hand out to help her up. He grabbed her bag and rushed out to the car, she followed behind slowly.

 **That night**

Lucas had gone to bed about 30 minutes ago, and Happy and Toby were getting ready for bed.

Toby helped her change and then realized he had forgotten his phone in the living room and went to grab it, he also made sure to give the bunny more water.

As he walked back passed Lucas' door he heard him crying softly.

He knocked on the door and then walked in "Buddy, what's wrong?" he said as he sat on the boy's bed next to him.

"Mom's hurt." He said quietly

"Yes, but she's okay. She'll be back to normal in a few days." He said as he placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"But she's hurt. What if it was worst?" he asked

Toby pulled him into a hug and then carried him to their room.

"See mom's okay." He said as he walked in carrying the boy.

Happy was sitting up in bed reading a book with the lamp on. She put the book down when she realized Toby had walked in with Lucas.

Toby dropped the boy on the bed and then hopped in next to him.

Happy raised her arm slowly and placed it around Lucas and pulled him closer to her. "Baby, I'm okay, I'm here and I'm fine. I'll be back to normal in a few days."

"I know." Said Lucas snuggling in closer to her.

"Then what's with all the tears?" she asked softly, almost trying to hold back a small smile.

"What if you weren't okay? What if you got really really badly hurt, or even worst?" he asked looking up at her.

"I never do anything uncalculated. And don't worry about anything worst happening, alright?" she responded. She didn't even want to think about dying and missing out on her life with Lucas and Toby.

"Mom. Your job is dangerous. More dangerous than dad's. You've gotten hurt before, but not this bad. What if something happens to you? What happens to me then?" he asked.

Now they were getting to the bottom of his concerns.

"Baby, I know my job is dangerous, but I've been in worst situations. Before we had you, I had gotten into some pretty bad situations, but I always got out of them, usually because daddy was there to save me." She said running her hand up and down his arm and shooting a glance at Toby.

"If anything were to happen to me, you'd still have daddy." She said softly, she didn't want to get into this conversation, but she felt like she needed to prove to Lucas that he'd never be alone.

"You'd also still have everyone else on the team, and grandpa, and Tesla." She said softly.

"What if something happens to you and daddy? Do I have to go back into foster care?" he said glancing at Toby.

"Buddy, not at all. You're never going into the system again. We'll make sure of that. If something were to happen to both of us, you'd go with Walter and Paige. They'd take care of you and make sure you still got to see grandpa and you'd keep Tesla and all your things." Said Toby with certainty.

 _One night not too long after they had become parents, they sat down with the rest of the team and Patrick to decide what would happen to Lucas if something were to happen to them. Paige and Walter also wanted a plan in place if something should happen to them after their daughter was born. They had all agreed that Happy and Toby would take in Ralph and the baby, and that Walter and Paige would take in Lucas if anything happened. They never wanted their kids to get lost in a system, none of them had much family to turn to that knew how to deal with geniuses, and they all wanted their kids to stay with Scorpion, where they could thrive. It wasn't something any of them really wanted to discuss, but it was something that had to be discussed, due to the nature of their work._

"But don't worry about it, alright? We only take calculated risks. We've been doing this for a really long time. We may get hurt, but trust that everything is going to be alright." said Toby ruffling the boy's hair.

"Okay." He said softly. "But I need both of you. You're my parents and I need you both, no one else."

"I know buddy." Said Toby. "You good now? Ready to head back to your bed?"

"Yeah" he said softly, still curled up to Happy.

"No, stay here." Said Happy

"Happy, you're hurt and he kicks in his sleep." Said Toby rolling to get off the bed.

"So do you." She rolled her eyes, and looked down at Lucas. "You can stay here tonight if you want."

He had started to doze off already.

"He's staying here with me." She said firmly.

Toby smiled at her and got back into bed.

"I almost got blown up today. I just want to hold my son and husband, and be thankful that I didn't die, and that I still get to have this life." She let out a small smile.

Toby picked up Lucas and moved him over to the side of the bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked softly.

"You want to hold both of us, which you can't do unless you're in the middle. Move to the middle." He said softly as he walked over to the other side of the bed.

She slowly moved over to the middle of the bed and Toby got in beside her. She was laying on her back. He was laying on his side, and lightly put his arm around her being careful not to knock her sprained wrist. He had wrapped it up earlier and she had it resting over her abdomen.

"I love you." She said softly.

"I love you too." He said and then pressed a kiss to her cheek.

She placed her hand on Lucas's back as he got comfortable to sleep.

"Love you three." Said Lucas sleepily.

They both let out a small laugh.


	25. House and Home

Toby walked up to Happy's work bench while she was welding. He held out a photo of a house.

She stopped and lifted her mask when she noticed he was approaching.

"What's this?" she asked.

"A picture of a house." He responded matter-of-factly.

"I see that, dummy. Why?" she said taking her mask off entirely.

"Because maybe we should start thinking about moving, buying a house or a condo." He said still holding up the picture.

"No." she said taking off her gloves.

"Happy, you've lived in that apartment for almost a decade." He said putting the picture down and leaning against her workbench.

"Exactly. It was fine 10 years ago, and it's still fine now." She said.

"That was your first real apartment. I understand the emotional attachment to it, but we have a growing child who needs more room." He said trying to reason with her.

She rolled her eyes.

"Look, it was big when you lived alone. When I moved in, it was the perfect size for us. Then when we wanted to adopt we lost our office space and storage room, I'm okay with that, but half our junk is still in storage, which is costing us money. The apartment worked when Lucas was smaller, but he's 4 and he's going to keep getting bigger and needing more room for his stuff. We also have a bunny now, which is taking up more room. Think about it, please." He was almost pleading with her.

"The apartment works, it's close to everything we need, and it's cheaper." She was reluctant to give in to him.

"Combined, we make enough money to buy a house with a yard. I have savings that I've accumulated since being clean and I know you have some money saved up too. We have no debt and stable income. If I house hunt and find us a place close to everything we need and reasonably priced, will you come look at it with me and consider it?" he asked.

"Fine." She reluctantly agreed.

Toby threw himself into house and condo hunting.

They had agreed not to tell Lucas until they had seen a house and were ready to make an offer. The buy had mild anxiety, and was known for overthinking things and they didn't want to worry him about moving until they were ready.

 **2 weeks later**

"This place better be good." Said Happy arms crossed as Toby was driving them to see a house.

"It is! I told you, I saw it yesterday with the agent and loved it." He responded.

"You also said that about the condo we saw 2 days ago." She snapped back.

"It's not my fault I didn't see the structural failures of the building. I'm not the engineer." He responded glancing at her as he was stopped at a red light.

She rolled her eyes.

They pulled up to an empty lot about 15 minutes from the garage. It was at the end of a street off the main highway that headed out of the city.

"This isn't a house." She deadpanned.

"I know, I know. Think about it, we could build the home we want. You could design it, you can make sure it's structurally sound, we can make it exactly what we need in terms of size, we can have a yard, build a garage and we could even get an above ground pool." He said with a smile as they walked to the middle of the property.

"You're a white picket fence kind of person, aren't you?" she smiled at him.

"I am now." He smiled back.

She was silent for a moment looking around them.

"How are we supposed to afford to build a house?" she asked.

"Well, I've got enough money saved up to pay for the piece of land. You've probably got enough to cover some or most of the start-up costs and building supplies. We'll be able to save money on building costs, because you and Walter can easily make the designs. I'm also sure you know how to get a deal on building supplies and a crew. We can do the painting and easy stuff ourselves. You could probably wire the place yourself in a night." He smiled at her.

"You've put a lot of thought into this." She said blankly, processing what he was telling her.

His eyes were lit up in excitement. –He always looked so good when he was excited and happy about stuff, the way his eyes lit up made her fall more in love with him.

"I did. We can afford this and still be able to live comfortably. During construction money's going to be a little tight, because we'll still be paying rent at the same time so we have somewhere to live. Once that's done we'll be good again." He said reaching out for her hand.

"We'll be using up all our savings and going into debt with a mortgage." She said quietly.

"We can afford it though. Besides, I want to use my savings on us. I want to use it to see our family grow and be happy. I want Lucas to have a home and a yard. I want him to have the life I never had. I want to give you the life you deserve and that I know you secretly want." He said as he pulled her closer to him.

She smiled at him. "Thank you." She pulled him down and kissed him quickly.

"Is that a yes? Are we doing this?" he asked gazing down at her.

She had a big smile plastered on her face and she nodded.

"We get to be a white picket fence family!" he said and hugged her again and kissed the top of her head. He pulled back and looked at her "Good, because I may or may not have already put in an offer for this property." He smiled.

She elbowed him. "Of course you did." She rolled her eyes.

 **A little while later**

They were in the car and Happy was driving when Toby's phone rang.

"Really? That's great! Thank you so much, I'll be in touch." He said into the phone then hung up.

"Happy, the property's ours! We got it for much less than they were asking, which is great! We can go down to the office and sign the papers today." He said smiling at her.

"Oh god, this is real." She said quietly.

He could tell she was starting to get anxious. - Something about her breathing becoming uneven and tensing up, is what Toby was pointing out.

"Babe, pull over, let's talk about this." He said softly.

She obliged and pull off the highway.

"Hey, talk to me." He said softly putting his hand on her thigh.

"A house, Toby. I haven't lived anywhere stable but my apartment since I got out of the system. A house is expensive. We have to build it. I don't know the first thing about being a suburban mom, gossiping with other moms in the neighborhood. A mortgage we're going to be paying off for the next 20 years." She had more to say, but she had started to panic a little bit. Her breathing was getting heavier.

"Happy, breath." He said as he moved his hand to her shoulder and started to rub the top part of her back. "One step at a time, alright? Don't worry about the suburban mom thing, it's not a suburb. It's just a house on a street, and the neighbors probably won't even talk to us. It's not exactly the rich district. You've committed to a child, and me for the rest of your life, you can commit to a mortgage. Houses are expensive, but we're financially stable. I know moving is scary, but it's the rational next step. If you don't want to build, we can keep looking, just because our offer was accepted doesn't mean we have to buy it. We can do this, together." He smiled

"Okay." She said softly after a minute once she caught her breath.

"We can do this." He repeated. "I'm here. We can do this. Let's give our son the life we never had. Let's give ourselves the life we had only dreamed and hopped for. Let's prove everyone who said we'd never have all of this, wrong. Happy, we can do this, if you want to." He smiled again.

"Okay." She smiled. "Let's sign the papers." She said wiping her face and readjusting her jacket.

"Thank you." She said as she put the car in drive and they started to drive away.

"Thank you." He replied.

 **Later that evening**

They had signed the papers and were back at their apartment with Lucas eating dinner.

"So we've got something to talk to you about." Said Happy.

"It wasn't me. Ralph did it." He replied fast.

"What? No. Wait. What did Ralph do? If something's going to blow up again, you need to tell us before the explosion, even if it's small. We don't need another science experiment gone wrong. Your face was light purple for a week." she asked

"Nope. Nothing. It's fine. What did you have to tell me?" He asked quickly taking a sip of his juice.

They both eyes him suspiciously.

"Anyways…How do you feel about moving? All together into a bigger house." Said Toby.

Lucas' eyes opened wide.

"A house?" he asked. "We all stay together and we move into a bigger house? That sounds awesome!"

"Good. Because we bought some property today, and we're going to build a house. Bigger bedrooms, a backyard maybe even a garage." Said Toby taking a bite of his food.

"That sounds awesome! Can I paint my room? I want green." He said with a smile.

"We're not even close to that step yet, but I don't see why not." Replied Happy.

He continued smiling and then got up and gave them each a hug "This is the best. You guys are the best parents ever." He said as he got back onto his seat to keep eating.

"That's why we're doing this." Said Toby quietly leaning over to Happy.

 **A few days later**

Happy was working on the blueprints for the house when she decided to go show Toby.

They kept bickering about what they wanted.

"3 bedrooms is fine." She said.

"4 would be better. Then we each get an office space." He replied.

"I don't need one! If we do, we take out the second bathroom." She said

"No, 2 is better." He said scribbling on her papers.

"Toby! We don't need a huge house, we're 3 people!" she said scribbling over his scribbles.

"And a bunny!" he said dramatically.

She rolled her eyes.

"We also don't need 3 floors. Trust me." She said scratching stuff out on her papers.

"If we have 4 bedrooms we do." He replied.

She rolled her eyes again and walked away to work on some new idea.

 **A little while later**

She slapped some new blueprint rolls down on his desk and unrolled them.

"Here. Look at these." She said turning the papers so he could read them and she walked to stand next to him.

"Look, main floor, decent sized kitchen with an island, lots of storage. Bathroom. Open concept with the living room and dining room. It also had a decent sized laundry room with a door, because we tend to get messy at work, and we can keep the mess all in one place. Upstairs has 2 big bedrooms, a small one, and a bathroom."

"Looks good, but I was kind of hoping we'd have another floor. We have a lot of junk to store, and you and Luke need a work space." He said.

"I'm not done. Your office is the small bedroom upstairs, we're going to have a big garage. Luke and I can work on stuff out there, and you won't hear 99% of it. But, If we want to go all out," she said as she pulled out a second set of blueprints. "same thing except we can have a basement, which can be an entertainment room. You can keep all your movies down there, your Xbox or whatever it is you play and we can store some stuff down there too, maybe even have a small workshop, which means a smaller garage, and slightly smaller dimensions for the house, but we all get exactly what we want." She smiled.

"Smaller garage and house means saving some money. But it also means more stairs and a bigger lawn to cut." He pointed out.

"Isn't that what kids are for?" Said happy with a small laugh.

Toby smiled "You know what you're talking about, it's up to you. I would like an office space, and an island in the kitchen. That's all I ask. My books need out of their boxes."

She thought about it for a moment.

"I think the second one is best, but I'm going to keep working on this a little more. We don't really need an entertainment room, but it would be nice to have 2 TV rooms. We don't need a big garage, I have all my stuff here." She said rolling up the blueprints.

"This is our forever home." He said with a smile "Do exactly what you want."

She'd never had that. She'd never had a forever home before. She thought she had found her forever home about 8 times in foster care, and her apartment just ended up being where she had lived the longest. It felt like home because it was the first place she ever felt safe, it was the first place she had on her own. Toby had never really had a forever home before either. He had lived in many different houses over the course of his life, none of them ever felt like home, even with his parents. Living with Happy felt like home, but he still wanted a house that he owned, that he knew was his forever.

 **3 months later**

Toby had picked Lucas up from school and brought him to the house that was now under construction.

Happy was on site working with the crew. She couldn't help herself, she was a busy person and she wanted to make sure everything was done properly and up to code.

"Toby! I changed the plans again." She said when she saw him walk out of the car with Lucas following behind.

He wasn't surprised. She had changed the plans so many times he wasn't even sure if they were going to have 3 bedrooms or 7.

"I'm shocked." He said sarcastically, handing her a cup of coffee.

"Look, see, now the bedroom is going to be two feel larger this way, but Lucas' room is going to be a bit smaller, but that gives us more room for the bathroom." She continued talking about dimensions and nodded pretending like he understood and knew what she was talking about. He was watching her enthusiasm more than anything, she was so excited to be working on her own house. She was talking really quickly.

"Babe, how much coffee have you had?" he said taking the cup out of her hand.

"I'm not sure, probably a lot." She said reaching for the cup.

"No, no, no. No more coffee. Its 4 o'clock, you're way too wired for more, if you plan on sleeping tonight." He said holding it out of her reach with a small smile.

"I hate you." She said, squinting a little bit.

"No you don't." he said with a smile still holding the coffee out of her reach.

 **2 and a half months later**

They were trying to get into their house as soon as possible. Happy and Paige had spent the night at the house painting and putting in the baseboards and trimmings.

"So how was the attempt at a honeymoon?" asked Happy as she was standing on a ladder painting.

"It was good. The 24 hours away was nice. It's too bad we had to cut it short because of a case, but we knew that was a possibility, that's why we didn't go very far." She said with a small smile.

"Yeah, that happens with our job." She laughed.

"Really get to appreciate the nights away when you have kids, eh?" said Happy.

"You're telling me." Laughed Paige.

"I love my kids, but getting a night away is really nice. Quality time with my new husband is nice, but it's even better when you don't have to stay quiet and worry about a kid walking in, or waking up." Said Paige with a laugh.

"So true!" said Happy laughing.

"Was Isabelle good while we were out?" Asked Paige.

"She was great, she's a pretty easy kid to please. She likes to bug Luke, she laughs and he gets annoyed. It's pretty funny." Said Happy

"Good. Did you guys ever think of a second one?" asked Paige.

"We thought about it, but we decided against it. We've got our hands full with Lucas, the adoption process is so long and we're happy with the way things are. He's an only child, but I think it's good for him. Besides he's with your kids almost every day." She responded.

"Makes sense." Said Paige.

They continued talking about nothing and everything through the night as they were painting.

They had gotten increasingly closer through the last few years, Happy hadn't had many female friends through her life. She never had many friends in general, but it was nice to have Paige around. She was great for advice on almost any subject.

The next day Toby and Lucas went over to the house to paint his room. He had decided he wanted a light green room and that he wanted to paint it himself with Toby. Toby loved to do the kid stuff with him, playing in the backyard, baking, building forts. Lucas would always say Toby was his best friend, and if Toby was being honest he would say his best friend was Lucas too.

 **A few days later**

They had moved in to their house. They were still unpacking and trying to get everything organized and set up. They had a bunch of furniture delivered that was in boxes that they would have to setup. The delivery guys said they could set it up, but Happy insisted she do it, because she could probably do it better and faster than they could.

It had been a long day so they ate Chinese food while sitting on the floor of the dining room around boxes.

"I love our new house." Said Lucas eating some noodles.

"So do I kiddo." Said Toby.

"So tonight you're sleeping on the mattress on the floor, we'll put your bed together tomorrow." Said Happy.

Lucas nodded.

A while later, Lucas was playing with his bunny in his room. Toby and Happy were unpacking the kitchen stuff and organizing everything.

"I really love the way you designed this house. It's perfect for us, we have a back yard and even an entertainment room, which is going to be so great with the projector we got." Said Toby handing her some plates.

"It is! We've got huge bedrooms, and there's room for everyone to do their own things and not trip over each other. I'm glad you talked me into this." She smiled

"We got our white picket fence. We got our forever home." He smiled and pulled her into a kiss and a hug.

"I finally found my forever home." She smiled.

Toby felt a mixture of so happy he could cry, and so sad he could cry. He was sad because it really hit him that his wife had been so alone for so long, she had never had that stability or certainty. It had taken until she was in her 30's for her childhood dream of finding her forever home to be realized. He was also happy beyond belief that they had found it together. That they had finally gotten their white picket fence dream, they had a family and a home. They were getting the life they never had, and they were giving Lucas the life he deserved. He had also been so alone for so long and he too, had found his forever home.

She pulled back "Are you crying?" she let out a small smile.

"No." he said wiping his face "Maybe."

She smiled again, her arms still around his waist "Why are you crying?"

"We've made it. I mean, really made it. We have a home, our forever home. It's perfect. Our life is perfect. I'm the happiest man alive. Everyone who said I wouldn't accomplish anything more than school was wrong, people who said I'd ruin anything good, were wrong. Happy, I'm just so"

She cut him off when she reached up and wiped his face. "You big teddy bear!" she couldn't hold back her smile.

"You don't understand, I thought for a long time, that I'd ruin anything good. I haven't ruined this, and I won't. I thought I wasn't worth it…I never thought I'd get this. I believed what people had told me. That I wasn't good enough, I ruined people, I was a screw up, I'd never get my shit together." he said looking down at her.

She looked up at him "But you're so good for me and Lucas, and all our friends. You've cleaned up your life. You saved up the money for the property, you did that." she smiled.

He looked down, avoiding her eyes for a moment.

"Hey, what's going on?" she said as she noticed the shift in his expressions.

He avoided her eyes but spoke softly. "When I was in my early 20's it was the lowest of the low for me. I had stood on top of buildings contemplating bad things. I even went so far as to take pills one night. I woke up the next day. I was mad when I woke up, but now, I'm so glad I did. I would have missed this, all of it." He said still teary eyed. He looked almost ashamed, like he couldn't believe that he had actually done those things.

She got a sympathetic look on her face "Toby, I had no idea" she said, reaching for one of his hands and pulling him closer to her.

He held her "It was a really low point. I don't like to talk about that time in my life, but it happened. I just realized how happy I am that it didn't end there, that I did live and I get to live this incredible life, with you and Lucas. Scorpion too."

She pulled back with her arms still around him, smiling up at him. "I would never have gotten my husband and best friend, Lucas would never have gotten a family. The world would have lost the best shrink. Scorpion wouldn't be as strong as it is."

She reached up and put her hand on his cheek wiping away the few last tears. "I'm sorry that you went through that. If I could take away that pain for you, I would. You've come so far since that time. You're so good for me, us. You've proved everyone wrong, you became the perfect husband and father, you've quit gambling, we have a house because you quit gambling and saved money. I'm so thankful you lived, Toby. I can't imagine my life without you."

"I wouldn't be here right now if I knew how to do proper dosages," he said with a small smile.

"It's like the alprazolma..when you slept through our first date." she smiled at him

"Wow, I am never living that one down. We've gotten married and had a child since then." he said

She smiled back at him.

"People told me I'd never accomplish anything other than school, I never thought I would either. I never thought my life could be this good. I spent my life believing I didn't deserve good, but now, I'm happy-we're happy together and we deserve all of the good in the world. Thank you, for believing in me, and us." He smiled at her and kissed her quickly.

"I never thought I deserved good either. We've proved everyone wrong. We're worth it, so is our son. Thank you, for never giving up on us." She held him close.

Just then Lucas came out of his room to find them hugging in the kitchen. He ran up and hugged both of their legs.

Toby picked him up. "This kid," he smiled "Is the reason we're here today."

"He's pretty great." Said Happy with her hand on Lucas' back, smiling at him.

"Who would have thought a screw up genius with a medical degree and a genius mechanical engineer from foster care would have all of this together? Marriage, solid jobs, a house, and a genius son?" said Toby with a smile. "I've never been so happy to be alive. I've said that so many times, but it's true every single time."

"Daddy, were you crying? Why were you sad?" asked Lucas looking at him.

"Yeah buddy, but it was happy tears. So it's okay." he smiled at Lucas and then back at Happy.

"Your dad's a softy. He's got a big heart." said Happy with a smile and a little laugh.

Lucas looked confused. He didn't understand the concept of happy tears. He had a good EQ, but he still struggled with other people's emotions sometimes.

"You'll understand it one day, kiddo." he said with a smile. "It's a good thing. Trust me."

 ***If anyone has any ideas for more chapters let me know :)**  
 **I'm really thankful for all the reviews, they're great :)**


	26. Girl troubles

**I've been SUPER busy the last few weeks, so writing took a back seat. I've also been trying to think of new chapters.**

 **I got a few comments/messages saying I should try and write a chapter/continuation where Happy gets pregnant/they adopt another child. I've been pondering it, and I've got about 4 different versions of that, but none of them seem to fit right. I don't like the way I've been writing them, and I haven't decided which rout I'd take in terms of a story line (adoption, pregnancy, even miscarriage?) or if I even want to publish one of those. I'm being overly picky with it because I don't know if that's a plot line I really want to write, and if I did, I'd want to do it justice.**

"Can you call Ralph and ask him if he wants to play with me today?" Lucas asked as he walked up to Paige in the kitchen of the garage.

"Ralph's got some projects to work on, sweetie. I don't know if he has time today. Is it important?" She asked as she was preparing some fruits for Isabelle.

"I just wanted to talk to him about something. I need help with…uh…school work." He said shyly.

"You know that there are 4 other geniuses that could help you with it, right?" said Paige curiously.

"I know, it's just…It requires someone with EQ and IQ and Ralph's closer to my age, and I want his help. Can you call him for me?" asked the boy as he hopped down from the chair he had climbed onto.

"Sure, I'll let you know." She replied as Lucas walked away.

 **A while later**

"What do you want?" Said Ralph as he walked up to Lucas who was tinkering with some wires.

"I need your help. But it's secret. Rooftop." He said as he dashed up the stairs to the roof.

Ralph rolled his eyes and followed.

"Okay, now tell me. What's going on?" Asked Ralph

"I like a girl in my school. She's a normal. But she's always in trouble at her other schools, which is why she's in my class. She's older than me though. She's 6." He spit out quickly. He had been holding it in all day.

Ralph smiled "You know who's good with that stuff? Your mom and dad. They helped me with my first crush. Fireworks. We made literal fireworks for her."

"I don't know if I want to talk to them about it…They're older." He said shyly looking at his shoes.

Ralph laughed "They're not that old. Besides, they're good at the romance thing…your dad is anyways. Talk to him, he's better at it then I am."

"You sure? It's not weird?" asked Lucas.

"Everything about us is weird. But no, your dad's great at the people stuff, Remember?" he said as he messed up Lucas' hair and headed for the stairs.

"Wait!" Said Lucas as he chased him.

Ralph turned around and asked what he wanted.

"I really like her. What if she doesn't like me back?" he asked

"Dude, I haven't talked to the girl we made fireworks for since I was in 4th grade. I'm sure you'll both get over it if it doesn't work out." He smiled and walked back downstairs with Lucas following him.

 **Later that night**

When they went to say goodnight to him he asked Toby if they could talk. Toby already knew what it would be about, Ralph had texted him and given him a heads up.

"What's on your mind, kiddo?" he asked as he took a seat on the bed.

"I like a girl in my class." He said shyly and softly.

"That's great buddy! What's she like?" he asked curiously, he wanted to find the best way to help Luke.

"She's 6. She's normal. She's pretty, and she's funny. But she goes to my school because she's always getting in trouble at normal schools, so they called her a bad kid. I don't think she's bad though." He said with a little smile.

Toby made a mental note to look into the girl, later.

"That's great! So is she your friend? You talk to her a lot?" he asked with a grin on his face. He was so excited to be helping his son out with the "ladies".

"Yeah. We're in the same class room. And we sit at the same table sometimes." He responded.

"Well, why don't you invite her over this weekend? You guys can play in the backyard, or play the pool. She can meet your bunny!" offered Toby. "We might even be able to work out something special."

"That's a good idea! I'll ask her tomorrow." He smiled. "Thanks dad!"

"No problem, buddy." He smiled and kissed his head and headed out to the living room to meet Happy. She was already watching some sit com.

He took a seat on the couch next to her quietly. About 30 seconds later he began to tell her about Lucas' crush.

"I'm just not sure how I feel about her potentially being a bad kid." Said Happy. "He's easily influenced by normals."

"Were you not labeled a bad kid? We should give this girl a chance. We can look up her parents tomorrow and see if we can dig anything up, we can ask his teachers about her too." He offered.

"Fine. But if she's not good for him, she's not coming over." Replied Happy.

"He needs to learn about love, and heartbreak, and how to get out of situations with not so good people. He needs to learn how people work. He'll never do that properly if we keep protecting him from it. Who knows, maybe she's just like you were." He smiled.

"I was a trainwreck when I was 6. I beat up a few kids and I also had an attitude despite the selective mutism. I also broke things and took things apart to build new things. I manipulated people to get what I wanted. So no, I don't want him hanging around someone like me." She stated.

"We'll give her a chance. One playdate. If she's awful, we'll deal with it from there, alright?" he said placing his arm around her.

"Fine." She reluctantly agreed and snuggled in closer to him.

 **The next day**

Toby took it upon himself to try and find out any information he could about this young girl and her family.

Toby had also talked to the teachers when he picked Lucas up, and he was informed that the girl was disruptive, but had a bubbly personality and a short attention span. They had also informed him that she was from a rich family and her parents were both business people, working very long hours and her nanny was the one who picked her up more often than her parents.

Upon watcher her in class for a few minutes he had figured out why she had been labeled troublesome. She had gone undiagnosed with ADD. Coupled with her lack of parental support and involvement, caused her to act out a little more. She looked like a very nice kid, just misunderstood. Toby felt for her, and thought she'd be a good friend for Lucas, if he wanted.

Once they were back at the garage Toby approached Happy and informed her of what he had found out.

"So you think she's an alright kid?" asked Happy standing at her desk.

"I think she's not awful, just circumstances that got in the way. She's got potential. Her parents aren't great, but she's cared for by her nanny." He said as he leaned over and rested his hands on her desk.

"Okay, she can come over. Go be a responsible parent and call her parents or something. I don't know how to plan a date for 5 year olds." She said with a slight smile.

"Yep, I'll talk to her nanny tomorrow when I pick Luke up." He said getting ready to walk away.

She grabbed his jacket and pulled him down for a quick kiss "I don't want you running off with a nanny, you're mine, got it?" she smiled at him. She knew that wasn't something he would ever do.

"Never. Not with anyone other than you….Unless she's a smoking hot –OOOUCH" he said in a mocking and joking tone just to annoy her.

Happy cut him off with a swift elbow jab to the ribs.

"I mean I love you my beautiful amazing wonderful wife." He said in a slightly painful voice. –man she could really hit hard when she tried.

 **The next day**

"Ralph said he got fire works for the girl he liked. Can I get fireworks for Stephanie?" Asked Lucas from the back seat of the car as they drove him to school.

"She's coming over for lunch, we can't have fireworks during the day." Happy pointed out.

"Buddy, why don't we make a fancy lunch?" Asked Toby.

"Okay. Can I dress up and can we light candles?" he asked innocently.

Happy smiled at how adorable it was. "I think that's a great idea."

 **Saturday**

Happy and Toby were in the kitchen preparing lunch. While Lucas and Stephanie played with the bunny outside.

"He gets all this crazy romance crap from you, you know." She said as she was cutting up some fruits.

"Well, he definitely didn't get it from you…" he said sarcastically.

"Hey! I could do romance if I wanted to, you're just always doing the grand gestures first." She said throwing a grape at him.

"Yeah, but we both know it works out better that way." He said as he walked behind her, and kissed her cheek. He quickly smooshed some potato salad on the front of her shirt while pulling her in for a hug.

She turned around swiftly and smooshed a handful of cake in his face.

"Oh it's on Quinn!" He yelled as she took off running around the kitchen island.

"Try me Curtis!" She said as she started to throw handfuls of fruits at him.

He dodged most of them by ducking down behind the island but she was faster and more agile than he was so she managed to get cake all down his shirt.

He didn't hesitate to smoosh berries down the front of her shirt either.

They were running around their kitchen like children yelling, letting out random yelping sounds and egging each other on.

Lucas and Stephanie were quietly playing with the bunny in the backyard feeding it veggies and trying to train him to do tricks.

They could hear the commotion from inside the house through the screen of the patio door.

"Your mom and dad are fighting." Said Stephanie while looking down at the bunny "My parents fight a lot a too."

"Oh, they're not fighting. They're playing. Listen, they're laughing and see, look, they're throwing food everywhere. They're making a mess." He said correcting her. "But I'm sorry your parents fight. That's not fun to listen to."

"My nanny says it's because they're stressed about their jobs, I usually just play on my iPad when it gets too loud." She said petting Tesla while he are a carrot.

"I remember when I was really little my foster parents used to fight a lot like that." He said trying to relate to her and help her any way he could with his limited knowledge of normals and EQ. "But then my parents adopted me and they're good, they don't yell."

"I just get scared when they fight. I don't like yelling." She said

"That's not fun. You can come over here more where there's no bad yelling." He said with a smile. "I mean, they yell jokingly like they're doing right now, but it's not scary, it's funny."

"Your parents seem really happy. I wish mine were happy like that." She said as they both looked through the patio door to see Happy kneeling on the counter with a handful of food and Toby standing in front of her with his hands up begging for her not to shoot while both laughing.

Lucas grabbed the bunny and headed inside with Stephanie following him.

"Mom. Let him go." He said as he struggled with the screen door.

"You're telling me what to do?" She said with a grin on her face.

When he finally got into the house Toby threw a handful of food at him and Lucas dropped the bunny on the floor. Good thing it wasn't even a 2 foot drop. He ran towards the closes piece of food he could find and threw it back at Toby. He then turned around and threw some at Stephanie.

They continued the food fighting chaos for a few more minutes until there was no more food left to throw.

"Kay, how about you kids go get changed into your bathing suits, rinse off and then go swimming to clean up. Dad and I will clean this mess up." Said Happy as she headed to the closet to grab a broom other cleaning supplies.

"How about we go out for lunch after? Wherever you guys want to go. Since your mother here decided to ruin the wonderful lunch we prepared." Said Toby eyeing Happy and grinning.

Lucas and Stephanie agreed and ran off to go get changed and headed to the pool.

"Your family is awesome." Said Stephanie.

"They're good." Said Lucas with a smile.

"So where do you want to go eat?" Asked Stephanie.

"Wherever you want. You're my guest." He replied splashing in the water.

"Pizza. Pizza is good." She smiled.

Toby and Happy had taken turns cleaning themselves up, since someone had to stay close to the patio door or outside with the kids in the pool – It wasn't very deep and both kids knew how to swim, it was a safety thing they didn't want to risk being too far from hearing any screams.

Once everything was cleaned up they got the kids out of the pool and changed into their clean clothes they headed out for pizza.

"I like you guys. You guys are funner than my parents." Said Stephanie.

"We try." Responded Toby taking a bite of pizza.

"My parents are always too busy for me. We don't do fun stuff together." She said softly.

"Well, you're always welcome with us, kid." Said Happy with a small smile.

"Thanks Mrs. Curtis." Said Stephanie with a smile before taking a bite of her pizza.

"Oh god, I'm not old enough to be Mrs. Just call me by my first name, please." Said Happy.

"We're too cool to be formal. First names are fine." Said Toby with a grin.

Once they were done eating they went to drop Stephanie off at home. On their short 10 minute drive Toby spoke up just before they arrived at her house. "Well I hope you enjoyed the date, even though we ruined the first lunch, the pizza was good."

"DAD!" yelled Lucas.

"What? Did she not know this was a date?" he asked.

Happy shot him a glare "Way to say it again"

They pulled up to her house and her nanny came out onto the front porch to watch Stephanie get out of the car and to greet her.

"I had a fun day. Thanks Luke!" she said as she leaned over and kissed his cheek and hopped out of the car.

"Ouuu I think she likes you!" Said Toby in the teasing voice of a 4th grader.

"DAD!" he said again blushing.

"What now?! It went well! She had fun, you had fun, she kissed you, and I didn't blow it for you." He said turning around dramatically in his seat to face Lucas.

Happy just smiled to herself listening to them bicker the rest of the ride home.


	27. Finding Dad

**Life got super busy, and I sorta forgot about this story, but I figured I'd try and update it since I got bored!**

"Happy! Happy! Wake up!" he said quickly but softly waking her up.

"What?" she said looking over at her clock "It's 5:57am. The world better be ending." She groaned.

He was already up and dressed, he hopped into the bed with his tablet in hand.

"No, maybe, I'm not sure." He said quickly.

She rolled over onto her back and looked over at him with a confused look.

"Look" he waved his tablet above her face.

"Too bright!" she closed her eyes and covered them with her arm "If this is a high score I'm killing you." She deadpanned.

"No, look, my dad sent me an email." He said calmly.

She removed her arm and opened her eyes to look at him. "What did he say? Wait. How did he get your email?"

"I'm a doctor, I'm not hard to track down. He said he wants to meet me and talk to me. He's about 3 hours away. He said he got his life together a little bit and wanted to reach out to me. Happy, it's been almost 10 years." He said excitedly but also a little wearily.

"Are you going to answer him?" she asked rubbing her face

"I was sort of thinking of going to meet him. He's only 3 hours away. I'm excited and shocked and resentful and weary all at the same time." He said "I don't know if I should."

"Well, if you want to go and meet him, I think you should. If you're not ready, tell him that. You could take a chance, maybe he's changed. I talked to my dad after 25 years, and he's been great." She said.

"Come with me. I want to talk to him. I have some questions. We can let Luke skip school and come too. If it doesn't work out, we'll have taken our first family road trip." He said with a smile.

"Let's do it. Get Luke ready, I'll take a shower and we'll head out." She said with a small smile.

"Seriously? Did not think you'd agree to this." He said with a smile rolling out of bed.

"It's important to you." She smiled getting up and heading to the bathroom.

 **A while later**

Lucas didn't even question anything. He got into the car and fell back asleep.

"Are you sure about this?" Asked Happy.

"Not even a little bit." He replied looking over at her. "But I feel like it's something I should do. I want to tell him how great my life turned out without him. I want to know why it took almost 10 years for him to contact me, why he never responded when I reached out the first few times."

Happy was driving, as she starred out the window with her hands casually on the steering wheel "You'll get closure, no matter how this ends." She said softly. "It won't be a mystery anymore."

"I know. I probably won't keep in touch much, I just want closure. I want him to see what he missed out on. It's petty, and sort of resentful, but I don't really care." He said with a small smile.

"That's okay. Abandonment does that to people." She let out a small sympathetic smile.

A while later they had stopped to take a break from driving and stretch a little bit.

After their break Toby was getting increasingly nervous.

"You need to chill." She said glancing over at him.

"I'm trying, but it's so nerve-racking, what if he lied about where he is in life, what if he needs something from us? What am I supposed to do then?" he asked softly.

"You do what you want. He left, if he's asking for anything you have no obligation to do any of it." She replied. She could tell he was really anxious. She couldn't remember seeing him that nervous before. He was usually the calm and collected one.

 **A while later**

They arrived at the arranged meeting spot a few minutes early, and Toby's leg was bouncing uncontrollably as he sat in his seat.

She put her hand over his knee to stop him.

"Toby, it's going to be okay. If this ends badly, everything goes back to normal and you've got closure, you never have to see him again. If it goes well, youèll have your dad back." She tried to comfort him.

"I know, I'm just-I don't even know how I feel. I've been on the verge of an anxiety attack for the last hour." He said trying to control himself.

She leaned over and gave him a long kiss. "You can do this, but we can go back home if you don't want to."

He smiled. He knew she was right. "Can you and Luke stay in the car? I don't want to ambush him with you guys. He doesn't know about either of you. I'd like a few minutes alone first, I'll judge if it's alright for you guys." He said with an uncertain look on his face.

"Of course. Come out and get us if or when you're ready." She smiled "You'll be fine." She said as he closed the door and headed into the small diner.

Happy Turned around in her seat to look at Lucas.

"Momma, why is he so nervous about it?" he asked innocently.

"His dad left him about 10 years ago and he hasn't talked to him since. He didn't have a good dad and he doesn't know what he's like now." She responded.

They had always said they would be honest with him about almost anything he asked.

"But are we going to meet this guy too? Do I call him grandpa?" he asked.

"I don't know yet baby. We'll know soon, when dad comes back out." She said.

Lucas nodded. "This trip was fun anyways. I got ice cream for breakfast and we saw some really cool places I've never been before." He smiled.

 **MEANWHILE**

"Toby!" said the man waving his hand.

Toby noticed right away that he had changed a lot in the last decade. He had obviously gotten older since then, but so had Toby. The man had grey hair and was slightly smaller than Toby. There was a similarity between them, but they didn't look really similar. His dad's name was Marcus.

Toby took a seat across from the man. "Hi dad." He said with a smile.

"It's good to see you." Said Marcus.

Toby was trying to not break out into a panic, he was good at keeping a poker face though. He had picked up on some weird vibes as he analyzed the man, but he didn't know exactly what he was picking up on.

"Likewise." He said "How have you been?" he asked trying to make conversation and analyze him as much as he could.

"I've been alright. I took a turn for the worst after your mom died. About 3 years ago I tried to straighten out my life. I-I've got a real job now." He said with a small seemingly innocent smile. There was a little bit of self-pride, that Toby noticed.

"That's really good, I'm glad." He said with a smile "What are you doing now?" he asked.

"I'm a manager at a grocery store. I know it's nothing fancy, but it's a real job. First one I ever held on to for longer than 3 months. It's been 2 years." He smiled.

"I'm happy for you. That's great." Said Toby. "I'm just going to jump into this, why did you reach out all of a sudden? Why now?" he asked wearily.

"I've got my stuff more together now. I-uh, I started getting clean 3 years ago, I'm in AA and its part of the program, to reach out. It took a long time for me to get the courage to reach out after so long. I didn't even think you'd reply." He let out a small smile. "I didn't want to reach out until I had a job, I was more stable and I hadn't had a relapse in a long time. I didn't want to go back to that life if-if something went wrong with us this time around. I'm stable now and I trust myself enough not to go back to the drinking and the drugs if this didn't go well." He said wearily.

"Makes sense. I'm glad you finally reached out. I'm really happy things are going good for you." He said honestly. He was proud that his dad had finally gotten his life together. That he was stable and happy. He was still picking up on something, but he couldn't figure out exactly what it was. He seemed honest, and he wasn't lying about the job and the relapses. He did notice that his dad didn't mention anything about gambling.

"Toby, tell me, what have you been up to? Anything useful? Still working at the hospital, or did you quit that?" he asked.

Toby instantly felt a little bit of resentment. If his dad had stuck around even in the slightest way, he would know all of this stuff. So he got a little cocky, unintentionally. It's like he couldn't even control how cocky and resentful he was feeling.

"I don't work at the hospital anymore, I take casual patients though. I've been clean for over 6 years, no gambling. I do have a job, I work for Scorpion, and we work for Homeland Security. We're 4 geniuses, well 6 if you count the younger 2. I, uh" he smiled with pride at the thought of the family he had- The family that his father had told him he would never have, never be good enough to have. "I got married to an amazing woman. We've been married 4 years. We have a son, he's going to be 5 in a few weeks. We just finished building out first home and moved in about a month ago." He smiled.

"Wow that's incredible. I'm glad everything worked out for you. Your wife, is she the one you were with a long time ago, just after your mother passed?" he asked innocently.

Toby let out a small laugh. It had been years since he thought about Amy. "Oh god no. That ended a long time ago."

They both laughed a little bit. "I'd love to meet them one day. Toby, I'm really sorry it's been so long, I just couldn't bring myself to talk to you while I was a mess." His dad said.

"I understand. Hey, they're in the car, I can go get them if you want to meet them now?" Asked Toby with a smile. He felt it was safe enough to let Happy and Lucas in and meet him. Toby was nowhere near ready to let his dad in and have a relationship like Happy and Patrick had rebuilt. He was still a little weary of his dad, because of how he was treated by him, and because he had disappeared for a long time.

"Could you? Oh, that would be great!" he said innocently with his eyes looking genuinely excited.

"Sure," he smiled as he went to get up "My son is going to call you by your first name, it's just less confusing for him right now. He knows who you are, but he's-he's special, it's just easier if he does. So will my wife." He said with a small smile.

"That's alright. I understand." Marcus smiled. He was trying to be as understanding

Toby walked out and met Happy at the car. He got into the passenger seat and she looked at him with questioning eyes, but didn't speak.

"He seems alright. He wants to meet you guys. If you guys want to, we could have lunch with him." He said looking at Happy.

"Is that what you want?" she asked.

"I think it is." He smiled.

"Okay then, let's go." She smiled back at him.

Once the three of them filed into the restaurant Toby was in front, Happy followed behind him holding Lucas' hand.

His dad stood up. "Well aren't you just the poster family for diversity." He said.

 _Shit. Shit. Shit._ Toby thought to himself. He knew this afternoon was going to take a turn for the worst. He had forgotten that his dad was older, and mildly racist, it hadn't even crossed his mind. He never really thought about that kind of thing.

Toby's eyes narrowed and his smile slowly faded.

"Lucas is adopted. We've had him since he was 2 and a half." Toby pointed out.

"I assumed he's not your shared child." Said Marcus with a smile.

Happy realized how the afternoon was going to go down and wondered how long Toby was going to put up with it. Because if she heard anything derogatory about Lucas she was going to snap if Toby didn't.

Marcus leaned down and shook Lucas' hand "Nice to meet you, Lucas, I'm Marcus."

"Nice to meet you." He said a little shyly clinging onto Happy's hand.

"Nice to meet you, I didn't catch your name…" Said Marcus shaking Happy's hand.

"Happy." She said with a smile.

Marcus looked over at Toby "You should have told me her English wasn't very good."

Toby went to speak up but Happy jumped in "I was born in California. My name is Happy, and my English is perfect. Thank you." She said dryly.

Toby and Happy shared a look but sat down anyways. Lucas looked up at Happy, and she knew that he understood what was going on. It was like the bullies on the playground all over again.

They all sat down at the table and started looking at menus.

"So Happy, what do you do?" Asked Marcus.

"I'm a mechanical engineer. I work for Scorpion too." She smiled a really fake smile.

"You're one of the geniuses too then?" he asked.

She nodded "Lucas is a genius too." She added.

"Toby was never good with other people, but I guess people like him stick together." Marcus smiled unsure of anything anymore.

"We understand each other." Said Toby flatly.

Toby was ready to walk out of there if the comments continued. He didn't exactly know what to expect out of this, but he sure he hell wasn't about to put up with anyone making comments about his wife or son.

Marcus looked over at Lucas. "What grade are you in now? Toby did his school really fast."

"I'm starting grade 2 work next week." He said with a small smile.

"That's incredible" smiled Marcus.

They made small talk for a bit while they waited for the waitress to bring their food. Lucas talked about the robots he had built, how he loved his school, and about Tesla, his bunny. Toby talked about the drive they had taken that morning.

Once they got their food Marcus spoke up. "Toby, I never really thought you'd get your life together, but I'm glad you did. This one must be great if you gave up your life as a doctor to work with her." he said glancing at Happy.

"I didn't give up anything. I'm still a doctor. I still do consultations sometimes. We work for Scorpion, I prefer it there." Said Toby getting a little bit defensive. "You don't understand the nature of our work, or our lives." He said sharply.

Happy put her hand on his thigh under the table. She was trying to get him to calm down.

"I just mean doctors are respectable, they make a lot of money. What could a shrink possibly do at this Scorpion, working with an engineer." He said trying to defend his comment.

"That has nothing to do with Happy, or Luke. We are happy and that's all that matters. Scorpion is the best thing for me and my family." He said visibly losing his patience. "Is that why we're here? You found out I'm not practicing at the hospital anymore and came to try and tell me I'm making a mistake?" he asked. He had finally put the pieces together.

"Toby, I'm just saying that, your skills were used properly there. Doctors probably make more money than you do at Scorpion." Said Marcus.

"You don't know anything about our financial situation. Do you need money? Is that what this is? Did you lie about how well you were doing? You didn't lie, you are getting help for the drinking, but you're still gambling, aren't you?" Said Toby sharply.

"Well, no one is perfect. I do have a job, I am in AA, I haven't had a drink or done drugs since I started. But I owe some guys a lot of money. I can't get myself out of this one and I figured my doctor son could possibly help me out, then I learned about your Scorpion stuff." Said Marcus.

Toby got up and rolled his eyes. "I wanted so badly for this to work out. Let's go." He said glancing at Happy and picking up Lucas from his chair.

Toby slapped down some money on the table to pay for the food they had ordered and walked out holding Lucas.

Happy got up from her chair. "Toby is the best husband and father. You wouldn't know that because you haven't been around. He has accomplished amazing things without you. He is an incredible person who would do anything for the people he loves. Your son is the best person I have ever known. You hurt him and he still wanted to see the best in you even after all these years. You have no right to come around after a decade to ask for money and to tell him he's made poor choices, choices that you know nothing about. You have no idea the kind of person he has become. We won't be helping you out, because that's the last thing you deserve. Your son is incredible, and you still fail to see that."

"I just-" said Marcus before Happy cut him off.

"You will not be seeing us again. You won't see Lucas grow up, and that's really your loss, because he's amazing, but he deserves better than you, he already has better than you." She said as she turned to walk away. And took a step back. "And another thing, you probably should let the racism thing go, it's childish. Lucas gets picked on at school by 6 year olds, he doesn't need it from a grown ass man."

She walked away and met Toby and Lucas at the car.

"What did you do?" he asked with a smirk. Seeing her approach with a smirk on her face.

"He won't be talking to us anymore." She said

"What did you tell him?" he asked as they both got into the car.

"That you were amazing. That he had no right to talk to you the way he did. He had no right to ask for money. That he was going to miss out on the greatest kid ever. I also told him to drop the racism thing." She said with a smirk.

"My wife is fighting my battles for me." He smiled "I don't mind it."

"Someone needed to tell him where to go." She said.

"Daddy, I'm sorry, but I don't like Marcus. You're a better dad. You're not like him." Said Luke from the back seat. Happy laughed and agreed.

"Thanks kiddo, don't worry, we won't be seeing him again." Said Toby.


End file.
